Who praises Saudi Arabia’s efforts in eliminating trachoma
Minister of Health Fahd Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel received a congratulatory letter from the Director-General of the WHO (World Health Organization), Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, for the Kingdom’s success in eliminating trachoma.
He also received a similar letter approving the Healthy Cities Program as a cooperating center with the organization.
The WHO indicated that trachoma is an infectious disease that causes blindness all over the world, and is transmitted through contact with a lesion, wound, or ulcer producing pus in the eyes and nose of those infected with the disease, especially young children.
It is responsible for blindness and visual impairment in approximately 1.9 million people worldwide. The Kingdom had launched the trachoma-free file project in 2019; where the project included all health facilities and relevant authorities in all regions and governorates of the Kingdom and all research related to the history of trachoma disease in the Kingdom for more than forty years has been studied.
The adoption of the Healthy Cities Program as a collaborating center with the World Health Organization is one of the community health initiatives that have been universally accepted by decision-makers to apply it in many countries as an integrated model capable of contributing to the promotion of the health of societies, reducing the economic burden of health care, and achieving sustainable development goals.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been able to excel regionally and globally in the past four years by obtaining the accreditation of the WHO for nine medical cities in various regions (Al-Diriyah, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Taif, Unaizah, Jalajil, Al-Mandaq Al-Jumum, Riyadh Al-Khubara, and Sharurah), which is the highest among the countries of the region, in addition to accrediting Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, the first health-promoting university in the region.
