Sayyid Kamil opens adolescent conference

MUSCAT: The 2nd Adolescent and Youth Health Conference was inaugurated yesterday under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Kamil bin Fahd Al Said, Assistant Secretary-General for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers at Hormuz Grand hotel, in the presence of Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Saidi, Minister of Health.

Some ministers and members of State Council, as well as number of Representatives of World Organisations attended the opening ceremony.

The regional conference, organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) represented by the department of School and University Health, witnessed a wide range of participants from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) region and other regions in the world.

The opening ceremony included a speech of the Director General of the Primary Health Care Dr. Saeed Al Lamki that highlighted the significance of such gathering, as there are currently more than 100 million young people in the MENA region. Adolescents and young people (aged 10 to 24) in the Sultanate accounts for 28.3 per cent of the Omani population, according to the annual health report.

Dr. Al Lamki added ‘’Investing in the health, development and well-being of the adolescents and youth is the most cost-effective investment that any country can achieve in the future. We must be supportive of them in terms of believing in their abilities, creating a supportive and safe environment collectively as individuals, groups, or governmental and non-governmental organizations.”

A number of representatives in Oman, namely the World Health Organization (WHO), International Association for Adolescent Health (IAAH), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spoke at the opening ceremony.