2020-2025 Development Plan ready by October 2019
KUWAIT: Secretary General of Kuwait’s Supreme Council for Planning and Development Dr Khaled Mehdi said yesterday that the council is expected to finalize the five-year development plan for 2020-2025 by October 2019 to present it to the National Assembly. This came in a speech he delivered during an open discussion on ‘Developing the Public Health System in Kuwait,’ organized by Kuwait Center for Public Policy at the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, in cooperation with Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and the United Nations Development Program.
Kuwait Center for Public Policy aims for developing new policies based on a scientific methodology that may support the next five-year development plan (20202025), Mahdi said. He clarified that a study about the general health status in Kuwait will be released soon, it included health services sector, preventive health sector, health awareness, and environmental safety.
The study was made in cooperation with the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and London School of Economics, Mahdi clarified. He expressed the hope that this discussion will give specialists and researchers in governmental and academic sectors the chance to play a significant role in implementing mid and long developing plans and enhance Kuwait’s health status on major global development indicators.
“The main objective of this event is to promote a link between Kuwait’s public health system with public policies, and the United Nations sustainable development agenda of 2030,” Madhi stated. “We identified an urgent need to enhance the quality and effectiveness of public policy making, therefore we initiated Kuwait Center for Public Policy and commissioned it to study the state’s development plans, evaluate their effectiveness, and recommend new policies to support the country’s decision-making,” he continued.
Undersecretary for the Ministry of Health Dr Mostafa Redha expressed his happiness to participate in such event, hoping that participants would reach recommendations to support the country’s health policy and development plans. Deputy Director General of Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, Dr Amani Al-Badah made a presentation about public health national strategy in Kuwait, she explained the importance of involving experts in most sciences, including social sciences.
She said that one of the obstacles facing them is the lack of data and scientific evidence, which the institution seeks to enable scientists, researchers, and administrators to get during in their work. As for the United Nations Development Program, representative Edward Christino praised Kuwait commitments to the 2030 agenda which includes 17 goals for sustainable development.