Muscat: An orientation meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centres (WHO-CC) in Oman kicked off under the auspices of Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Health, in the presence of directors of WHO collaborating centres in the region in Muscat on Monday.
The meeting is hosted by the Sultanate of Oman and organised by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Office.
The meeting aimed to discuss different opportunities available in establishing WHO-CC in Oman, and discuss success stories with best practices.
Furthermore, the meeting aimed to orient participating institutions towards WHO-CC roles and eligibility for designation, review updated rules and policies regulating (re) designation of WHO-CC and streamlining their work with WHO’s work programme.
In his opening remarks, the Minister of Health stated: “Through this collaboration, Oman’s collaborating centres will get access to worldwide experience to build capacity and support the work they do; while gaining international visibility and access to work alongside other collaborating centres across the world in areas such as sharing objectives, exchanging information, pooling, and many others.”
Dr Al Saeedi pointed to the already established two WHO collaborating centres in Oman. One is Oman’s Central Public Health Laboratories (CPHL), and the other for Quality and Patient Safety; both of which have proven to be great assets and worked directly with EMRO to develop tools and build the necessary capacity.
The meeting highlighted the roles of WHO-CC in light of EMR Vision 2023, the WHO-CC policies and procedures, and the WHO-CC experience in Oman.