World Bank launches healthcare strategy for MENA

The World Bank unveiled at its GCC regional office in Kuwait Wednesday a regional strategy for improving healthcare sector titled "Fairness and Accountability: Engaging in Health Systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)." The strategy, announced at a workshop co-sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF), targets 20 MENA countries including the six GCC member states. Addressing challenges and identifying solutions in the health systems in the GCC countries is the focus of the five-day workshop, according to a statement by the WB regional office. The workshop, Health Systems Challenges and Solutions in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries, brings together 32 representatives from Ministries of Health, Finance, and Planning and health agencies like the Supreme Council of Health Services, as well as hospitals and health insurance companies. Presentations will be delivered by experts from the World Bank, Harvard University, and the OECD and will aim to familiarize policy makers in the GCC countries with the WB's latest regional strategy on health in the Arab world. The trainers will focus on key challenges in the health systems and the necessary solutions drawing on global best practices. This session is part of a series of human development related courses held in partnership between the WB and the IMF Center. "The GCC countries have made important strides in improving the health standards of their populations but the government spending on health care remains low and does not meet people's expectations," said Bassam Ramadan, WB Country Manager in Kuwait. "The GCC governments spend an average of seven percent of their annual budgets on healthcare compared to the 17 percent spent by OECD countries," he pointed out. The WB's new strategy for regional health sector highlights that building fair and accountable systems is key to improving quality and access of health care. This is at a time when GCC is witnessing a rise in death and disability due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries. Four GCC countries are in the global top 20 for obesity: Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. As a result, diseases like diabetes affect almost one in five people in the GCC which is almost three times the average of other high income countries. Road traffic injuries take a disproportionate toll on the youth of the region, even though public health measures like enforcement of seatbelt use and speed limits has been found to be successful in saving lives world over. "The proper response to the challenge of containing the rising burden of non-communicable diseases and injuries requires more than only increasing health spending," said Enis Baris, WB Sector Manager for Health in the MENA region and co-author of the Strategy. "Our strategy calls for revisiting the values and principles that underpin health systems for more pluralistic and accountable health system governance. "In the GCC countries this would mean rethinking the way healthcare is financed and organized to align incentives for improved access to, and continuity of, appropriate care in primary care settings. "It also means reaching out to other sectors to set up the regulatory framework for tobacco control, or prevention of road injuries," Baris added. The WB is well positioned to work with GCC countries on transformative health sector reforms mobilizing data, information, experiences and interventions stemming from its five decades of experience in the health sector in over 150 countries from around the world to create systems and institutions that are more fair and accountable to the people. "By re-orienting health systems in the Arab world from systems only treating sickness to systems also preserving and promoting health, people can live longer and healthier lives at a lower cost to the state and the people themselves," said Aaka H. Pande, WB Health Economist and Strategy co-author who helped organize the workshop.