Ministry of Health: The second national health strategy has achieved more than 90% of its results

The Ministry of Public Health revealed today that the Second National Health Strategy 2018-2022, which aims to improve the health of the Qatari community, has achieved more than 90% of its results and contributed to supporting the development and sustainable improvement process of healthcare in the State of Qatar.
The announcement comes as the Ministry of Public Health prepares to launch the third National Health Strategy 2024-2030.
In a press statement, Ms. Hoda Al Kathiri, Director of the Strategic Planning, Performance and Innovation Department at the Ministry of Public Health, said that the strategy achieved more than 90% of outcomes and health across 54 projects focusing on prevention, improving access to care and delivering services in a more integrated manner.
She noted that despite facing the world’s most prominent health challenges represented by the (Covid-19) pandemic during the implementation of the strategy, the State of Qatar successfully responded to the pandemic and kept the death toll to a minimum. These achievements were made during the implementation of the strategy, with a focus on ensuring the successful hosting of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which is conceived as the healthiest event thanks to the joint efforts of all partners.
The Director of the Ministry of Health’s Strategic Planning, Performance and Innovation Division added that the strategy’s achievements also build on the important results achieved in the first National Health Strategy from 2011-2016, which helped strengthen governance, improve policy formulation, and introduce fundamental reforms in the country’s healthcare sector.
The Ministry of Public Health, through the National Health Strategy 2018-2022, has prioritized the improvement and development of services for the seven groups of people most in need of care, and has made important achievements in this area, most notably reducing the prevalence of tooth decay in children by 5% and increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in infants for the first six months of life by 10%.
The proportion of patients receiving mental health services in primary and community care settings also increased by about 17%, and the proportion of emergency room visits for falls among people aged 60 and older decreased from 2.4% in 2018 to 1.9% in 2021.
The strategy also aims to increase by 25% the number of entities able to participate in occupational health and wellness programmes in the workplace, improve midwifery services for women and improve services aimed at empowering patients with multiple chronic diseases.
In the priority areas of the health system, through the joint efforts of various departments, Qatar is the first country in the world where all cities have been awarded the title of “Healthy City” by the World Health Organization. In addition, Qatar University has been awarded the title of “Healthy University” and the Qatar Education City Foundation has been awarded the title of “Healthy Education City”.
The Ministry of Public Health aims to increase the proportion of high scores in International Health Regulations indicators for preventing disease outbreaks from 35% in 2018 to 97% in 2022.
The State of Qatar also made significant progress in its Universal Health Coverage Index, rising from 72 in 2017 to 76 in 2021.
The National Health Education Framework was developed and launched to build consensus and develop consistent messages across all programmes and activities over the next few years.
The Ministry has established a unified call centre for the health sector through a telephone number (16000) and promotes integrated healthcare and an integrated collaborative approach to enhance patient care.
Through the vision of the Second National Health Strategy 2018-2022 (Our Health, Our Future), the strategy’s approach focuses on providing care at the right time, by the right people, in the most appropriate place to help lay a solid foundation for the development and improvement of the Third National Health Strategy into the next stage.
The 2024-2030 plan will be launched soon to achieve the desired progress in achieving the State of Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy (2024-2030) and the Qatar National Vision 2030.