ALGIERS – Sunday, 22 May 2022 (APS) – The minister of Health, Abderrahmane Benbouzid, chaired Sunday the 57th ordinary session of the Arab Council of Health Ministers, on the sidelines of the 75th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), to run from the 22-28 May in Geneva, Switzerland, under the theme “Health for Peace, Peace for Health.”
The meeting comes “following the session held by the Council’s Executive Board members on Saturday, devoted to issues to be presented at the WHA meeting, including the unification of the Arab Health Ministers Council’s position,” the ministry of Health said in a statement.
In an address, Benbouzid said the meeting was an “opportunity to push forward the consultations on the creation of specialized centres in all Arab countries, such as the Arab medicine centre project proposed by the Republic of Egypt.”
The minister also stressed “Algeria’s interest in the creation of an Arab health organization.”
He noted that the idea to create such a body dates back to a “proposal submitted by the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in June 2020.”
It “is likely to contribute to the coordination of joint Arab action in public health, unify positions and defend interests at the international level.”