Thursday 18 / September / 2025
Muscat: The Sultanate represented by the Ministry of Health is taking part in the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development (AFSD), commenced yesterday with a delegation headed by the Minister of Health Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Sa’eedi.
The three-day forum, themed Accelerating Progress on the 2030 Agenda post-COVID-19, reviews and addresses the progress towards implementing and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs) in the Arab region.
In the AFSD, Al Sa’eedi delivered a speech where he pointed out that despite significant progress made in the region in key indicators such as maternal and under-5 child mortality, the region continues to face challenges in the growing rise of diseases such as non-communicable diseases and the resulting economic threats and burden to societies.
He explained that in several Arab countries, this challenge is compounded by humanitarian crisis and political instabilities, resulting in lack of access to healthcare, shortage of medications, famine and displacement of populations. Such factors when put together hindered the progress towards reaching our common goals.
The health minister stressed in his AFSD speech that today and with COVID-19, the challenge has become even greater, as the pandemic presents an unprecedented emergency that has taken a toll on health agendas worldwide. However, past year’s events have demonstrated that the world is truly interconnected to an extraordinary extent and no country can face them alone.
Al Saidi added that COVID-19 pandemic exposed disparities both within countries and between countries. Health systems globally and in the region are faced with an array of challenges because of the growing rise of COVID-19 cases as well as the disruption of non-COVID-19 services. This pandemic has challenged capacities and demonstrated the importance of prioritizing a coordinated response at the national, regional and international levels.
He clarified that the lockdowns that were forced to impose have undoubtedly increased behavioral risks such as physical inactivity and unhealthy diets. Furthermore, the significant burden that COVID-19 is placing on mental health and wellbeing, not only of our health staff but also on the population at large is recognized, affirming that this is indeed a time to give due attention to mental health services and ensure continuity of care in this critical domain.
Yet the COVID19 pandemic, the Health Minister affirmed, has provided us with further evidence of the importance of primary healthcare as a backbone to UHC where often countries with strong primary healthcare networks are able to provide an accessible and feasible approach in tackling this crisis. Now, more than ever, PHC is receiving the attention it deserves.
“We remain convinced that a coordinated approach at the international, regional and national levels is vital to achieving the 2030 agenda and proposing innovative solutions for the development of inclusive public health policy is fundamental to advance and reach those goals” stated Al Saidi in his speech.
At the end, Al Saidi firmly underlined that it is the proper time for strengthening political commitment to building resilient health systems together and to truly learn from the lessons this pandemic had taught nations. The discouragement of the monopolisation of vaccines and ensuring the equitable distribution of vaccines are key steps to help ensure fulfillment of common goal by allowing the cure to this pandemic to reach all countries and all within countries.
