27 September 2023

18 September 2023, Kuwait City, Kuwait – To mark World Patient Safety Day 2023, Kuwait’s Ministry of Health is leading a pivotal campaign to address patient safety and environmental concerns. Its Healthy Cities Office is enabling the safe disposal of unwanted medications within the community, reflecting this year’s theme of the WHO global health day: “Engaging patients for patient safety”. This campaign is a massive stride towards ensuring the responsible and sustainable disposal of unused and expired medications, which is necessary to safeguard both public health and the environment. The main...

30 August 2023

Kuwait, 15 August 2023 – The World Health Organization (WHO) is proud to mark its 75th year anniversary by celebrating its achievements in improving public health. As a part of this milestone commemoration, the WHO country office in Kuwait took part in an international art competition campaign, entitled ’75 years of improving public health’. This campaign aimed to engage students aged 8 to 18 in creatively expressing their perspectives on global health and its significance.  WHO hosted an award ceremony under the patronage and presence of H.E. Minister of Health Dr Ahmed...

09 April 2023

Kuwait, 6 April 2023 –  Seventy-five years ago, in the aftermath of the deadliest and most destructive war in human history, the Constitution of the World Health Organization came into force: a treaty between the nations of the world, who recognized that health was not only a fundamental human right, but also fundamental to peace and security. Over the past 7 and a half decades, there has been extraordinary progress in protecting people from disease and destruction, including smallpox eradication, reducing the incidence of polio by 99%, saving millions of lives through childhood immunization,...

11 January 2023

Kuwait, 15 December 2022 – The WHO country office in Kuwait hosted a multi-stakeholder strategic dialogue on achieving “Health for All; a whole of society approach to enhancing health ecosystems” on 14 December 2022. Achieving the targets of WHO's Thirteenth General Programme of Work to ensure health and well-being for all, requires that all aspects of society get involved in building the health ecosystem. WHO has a longstanding, multifaceted collaboration with Kuwait aimed at improving health outcomes both domestically and globally. In Kuwait, the Ministry of Health leads this domestic ecosystem by defining...

11 January 2023

Kuwait, 11 January 2023 – The WHO country office in Kuwait conducted a 2-day intensive national workshop on conducting climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment from 10 to 11 January.  The workshop was developed in cooperation with the Environmental Health Unit of the Public Health Directorate and its objective was to work with the core national technical group on identifying priority vulnerabilities and adaptation measures associated with climate change and health. Technical officers from across the three levels of WHO participated in the workshop, which is testament to the importance...

28 November 2022

Dr Rihab AlWotayan, the Director International Health Relations at the Ministry of Health, said, “The Ministry of Health is incredibly proud of the hard working, talented and selfless professionals we have. It is critical for any organization to identify and to cultivate leaders from within, which is exactly why the Ministry of Health has been very keen in making the ‘Health Leadership for Positive Change’ a staple of the workshops offered to Ministry staff. This workshop is unique in how it combines different sectors, professions and levels of seniority all...

20 November 2022

  In line with WHO’s agenda for health-in-all settings and recognizing that determinants of health cover all aspects of society, WHO hosted a conference to raise awareness and understanding of the healthy spaces concept, focusing on mother- and child-friendly spaces, smoke-free buildings, as well as youth and community engagement.  The objectives of this campaign are to:  highlight policies and mechanisms that are in place to aid the shift to healthy spaces; share knowledge on good practices through case studies on creating healthy spaces in the private sector; and identify the barriers that may hinder adoption...

20 November 2022

Kuwait, 20 November 2022 – The World Health Organization (WHO)  and the Ministry of Health conducted an extensive workshop at the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations on 14–15 November to develop a national strategy for an integrated survey implementation plan for Kuwait.  The objectives of the workshop were to identify a list of health indicators, develop a national survey plan to be implemented by the government of Kuwait to measure identified indicators for better reporting of country progress. One of the deliverables also included development of a 10-year overarching plan for...

17 November 2022

  This is a joint campaign between WHO and the Public Authority for Food and Nutrition that will run between 6 and 10 November through a series of activities targeting the general public about the health benefits of breastfeeding for the community as a whole.  The Public Authority for Food and Nutrition and all concerned partners from the Ministry of Health and international organizations concerned with maternal and child health in Kuwait celebrated this occasion as part of efforts made to enhance the nutrition of infants, young children, mothers and pregnant women. Dr...

16 November 2022

Kuwait, 5 October 2022 – The World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Kuwait, in collaboration with the Public Authority for Food and Nutrition and the Ministry of Health organized an orientation seminar on the Baby-Friendly Hospital at the United Nations House on 5 October 2022. In 1991, WHO and UNICEF launched the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) that aims to ensure that mothers and newborns receive timely and appropriate care before and during their stay in a facility providing maternity and newborn services to enable the establishment of optimal feeding of...

16 November 2022

  The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Asaad Hafeez, WHO Representative in Kuwait, and Dr Mohammed AlSeaidan, Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health. The objective of the workshop was to train national health and environment experts on measuring the level of air pollution and its health-related impacts.  Dr Hafeez stated during his opening remarks, “Air pollution is now recognized as the single biggest environmental threat to human health.  WHO data show that 99% of the global population breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits and contains high levels of...