Sultanate’s role in ‘Health for Peace initiative’ commended

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) strategic plans will be in harmony with the Sultanate of Oman’s 10th Five-Year Plan for health development 2021-25 and Oman Vision 2040 and there will be increased coordination and cooperation to achieve them, according to the WHO Representative to the Sultanate.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Country Office Coordination Meeting with the Ministry of Health (MoH) Operational Planning for Biennium 2022-2023 held under the auspices of Dr Fatma al Ajmi, Under-Secretary for Administration, Finance and Planning Affairs and Dr Mohammed al Hosani, Under-Secretary for Health Affairs at the ministry, and in the presence of other officials of the ministry, Dr Jean Yaacoub Jabbour, WHO Country Representative, said that country operational planning for biennium 2022-2023 works to ensure Sultanate of Oman’s contribution towards implementation of WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13) to achieve the triple billion goals.

“Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13) that works to achieve the triple billion goals include one billion people benefit from universal health coverage; one billion better protected from health emergencies; and one billion people enjoy better health and wellness,” said Dr Jabbour.

Dr Jabbour lauded the Sultanate of Oman as a pioneer and a very close example in terms of the exemplary work the country has carried out in the “Health for Peace initiative” which it launched in partnership with Switzerland and the World Health Organisation in 2019.

This initiative aims to achieve cooperation and solidarity for peacekeeping, especially in the Middle East, and seeks to advance the international strategy for harnessing health in bringing points of view and contributing to resolutions to various conflicts.

“Our aim is to be relevant in every country, result-focused, technical, and ahead of the curve. Challenges are seen as best practices, providing further opportunities to learn and improve WHO’s ways of working at country level,” said Dr Jabbour.

WHO’s transformation agenda focuses on enhancing country impact through coordinated support across the three levels of the organisation to deliver on WHO’s health mandate. It also emphasises the importance of focused support that is based on country contexts, in view of the rapidly changing global health environment.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has constituted a turning point in the health work agenda around the world, including the Sultanate of Oman, and has cast a shadow over progress in achieving sustainable development goals. So, it has become imperative for any operational plan in the health sector to seek to restore the path. Thus, it works to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he said.

Every two years, WHO country offices develop their operational plans based on the organisation’s general programme of work.

“WHO’s support aims to accelerate country actions needed to achieve the core goals of WHO’s transformation as set out in the Thirteenth General Programme of Work, 2019–2023,” adds Dr Jabbour.

Jabbour further reaffirmed said that the importance of planning with a clear recognition of the country’s context and needs, and reaffirmed WHO country office commitment to support the country’s health programme and its aspiration to further enhance health issues despite all emerging challenges.

The high technical level meeting between the WHO Country Office and the MoH to develop and validate the key priorities for the organisation’s 2022-2023 biennial Operational Work Plan aimed to facilitate and strengthen ongoing strategic discussions towards aligning the organisation’s two years activities with the health priorities of the government of the Sultanate.

This is further operationalised through the WHO EMR Regional Vision 2023 “Health for All by All” and the WHO the Sultanate of Oman Country Cooperation Strategy.