The Ministry of Health "MOH" will take part in the ministerial meeting on (Universal Health Coverage: the Post-2015 Challenge), which is scheduled to be hosted by Singapore during the period from 21-22/4/1436H, under the sponsorship of the Singapore Premier, who will attend the opening session and address the meeting as a guest of honor. The meeting also will be attended by the Director-General of the World Health Organization "WHO" and health ministers of Finland, China, Hong Kong, Republic of South Korea, Japan and a number of Asian countries.
The MOH's delegation includes His Excellency the Vice Minister of Health for Planning and Development, Dr. Muhammad bin Hamza Khoshaim, the Assistant Deputy Minister for Primary Health Care, Dr. Muhammad bin Omar Ba-Suleiman, and a number of the Ministry's officials.
The meeting aims at discussing the experiences of some Asian and world countries in applying bases of universal coverage, or universal health coverage to ensure access of all peoples to the necessary supportive, preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitative and palliative health services that were well prepared to be effective, without imposing excessive financial burdens on beneficiaries of these services, i.e. ensuring everyone gets the required health services without bearing the brunt of fees that he/she will pay to get them.
The get-together also aims at discussing factors affecting universal health coverage such as: social determinants of health, health manpower, planning, rising rates of non-communicable diseases and ageing. The meeting represents a good opportunity to exchange ideas among the ministers, senior health officials from different parts of the world and international experts in the field of universal health coverage.
It is noteworthy that the WHO has advised all communities and countries to work for achieving universal health coverage and to put into consideration several factors, including establishing an effective health system, developing a system for financing health services, providing essential medicine and technology and having well-trained cadres.