Health Minister urges solidarity with Syria and relief for Gaza and Lebanon

INA-  BAGHDAD



The Minister of Health, Chairman of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health for the 61st session, Saleh Al-Hasnawi, called on Thursday to relief Gaza and Lebanon and stand with Syria, stressing that Iraq is committed to supporting humanitarian efforts materially, morally and humanly under the direct guidance of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani.  

The Minister of Health, in a speech during the launch of the work of the Council and attended by the reporter of the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "This session coincides with what we are witnessing these days of unfortunate events in our Arab countries, as the Zionist aggression against the State of Palestine and the Republic of Lebanon and the war crimes carried out by this usurping entity is a clear targeting of civil peace and a clear violation of United Nations charters and human rights by targeting civilians and innocent people from various segments of society and the comprehensive destruction of service facilities and infrastructure."

He added, "The continuation of the aggression on the Gaza Strip for more than a year, targeting health institutions and staff, and preventing the arrival of humanitarian supplies to the Strip, caused a clear shortage of medicines, supplies and medical personnel in health institutions, so we call on the efforts of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health to continue support and intensify efforts to support the health system in the Gaza Strip." 

 He stressed that "Iraq is committed to supporting these humanitarian efforts materially, morally and humanly, under the direct guidance of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, through the launch of the Save Gaza campaign to support the Palestinian people and with the participation of the Iraqi Red Crescent in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and receiving Palestinian patients and wounded in our health institutions and our readiness to receive other aids."


The Minister of Health called on Member States, all regional and international partners, financial institutions, international and humanitarian organizations to "provide the necessary support to the Republic of Sudan, to confront the disaster that exceeds the capabilities of the government and local authorities in the affected areas, and to face the repercussions of the floods, relief for those affected, and the rehabilitation of health infrastructure, as well as providing the necessary support to both the Federal Republic of Somalia and the Republic of Yemen," noting that "what is happening in the Syrian Arab Republic requires us to communicate with the health authorities for the purpose of sustainability of its work."
 
Regarding global health challenges, the Minister explained that "antimicrobial resistance is a global threat to health and development, and requires urgent multisectoral action in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Organization has declared that antimicrobial resistance is one of the ten major global threats to public health facing humanity."


He continued, "From here, I thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting the work of the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance and the success of this conference, and we welcome the recommendations and commitments that have been announced, which ensure safe and good access to antibiotics, benefit from cooperation between countries and build capacity within countries to be appropriate for future requirements, and raise awareness in the sectors of agriculture, aquaculture, human and animal health through an innovative approach to training plans, education of countries and capacity building within the world countries to be suitable for the requirements of the future, and to raise awareness in the agriculture, aquaculture and human and animal health sectors through an innovative approach to training and education plans."


The Minister of Health stressed the importance of cooperation and exchange of experiences between member states, as well as cooperation with the World Health Organization and international organizations on the project of strengthening health information systems through the implementation of integrated health information automation to simplify the process of collecting health data, improve its quality, enhance analysis and access to data and its availability in real time and use it for planning and decision-making to improve the reality of health services, and we also emphasize the importance of preparing an Arab strategy on digital health, and establishing a unified Arab platform for the exchange of health data with the aim of developing Health systems in our Arab world."

He concluded by saying: "Due to the crises witnessed by the Republic of Sudan, the State of Palestine, the Republic of Yemen and the Syrian Republic, and because of the difficulties faced by the Arab Council for Health Specializations with the help of trainees, I extend my invitation to Member States to facilitate the reception of trainees in training centers in the countries to which they moved and provide them with training seats."