Health minister places focus on elderly care
SHARM EL-SHEIKH: It is imperative to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of elderly care, Kuwait’s Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah said yesterday. Kuwait has laid out an intricate elderly care plan after ‘careful examination’ of demographic and social statistics on people approaching the latter stages of their lives, he said on the sidelines of a meeting bringing together ministers of health and social affairs from across the Arab region.
Citing national statistics, he revealed that the elderly account for four percent of Kuwait’s population, saying that research over elderly care is highly encouraged. Much progress has also been made on the legislative front in Kuwait, with recent laws enacted to further reinforce care for the elderly, the minister explained. He went on to thank the Arab League for their ‘excellent efforts’ to ensure that elderly care forms an integral part of their healthcare systems.
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind AlSabeeh emphasized importance of the joint meeting between the Arab health and social affairs ministers. Sabeeh, head of the 37th Session of GCC commission of social affairs, said that the joint meeting ended with a scheduled substantive meeting of the two councils under the title ‘Multidimensional Social Protection Policies in Conflict and Conflict-Affected Arab States.’ She anticipated for all Arab countries to cohesively work towards a substantial radical development. For UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda in Kuwait, Arab leaders in 2015 signed several papers, she added.
In her keynote speech at the meeting, Sabeeh expressed gratitude to Tunisia for preparing a draft joint strategy for supporting the elderly, in coordination with the United Nations and its agencies. Minister Sabeeh has observed that there has been noticeable increase of the number of old people in the Arab world, largely due to modern health care.
On Somalia, the minister noted that the top Arab leaders, during the latest summit, applauded an initiative by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to organize a donation conference to support education in this African nation. There are other issues that are of common concern for both the ministers of health and social affairs; such as the plight of the displaced, namely the relocated Iraqis, she said. — KUNA