Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater has stressed that Qatar continues its support to enhance access to primary healthcare services in the Global South, noting Qatar’s interest in ensuring that the support provided is as effective as possible in improving healthcare and development outcomes for needy groups of the population.

In her remarks during a high-level public event entitled “Enhancing Primary Healthcare Access in the Global South: Challenges and Solutions” on the occasion of launching the Doha Global South Health Policy Initiative, she indicated thatQatar played a prominent and continuous role over the years in holding discussions on development priorities in the Global South. She noted that Qatar hosted the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in 2023.

She said that it had been exciting watching the idea for that initiative grow and develop from an initial conversation following the inspiring event on the “Power of Innovation in a Post-COVID-19 World,” which was organized by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the sideline of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and lasted for two days.

The Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered that the Doha Global South Health Policy Initiative fits well within the development agenda and builds on a long-standing relationship between Qatar and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support development priorities in the Global South.

She praised the participants in the opening session of the initiative for their useful and fruitful feedback on the important issue of enhancing access to primary healthcare in the Global South.

She also praised the phenomenal efforts of Minister of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari and her team to develop world-class medical facilities and services in Qatar. She pointed out that it is no coincidence that this initiative has a warm reception and fertile ground to be established here in Doha, facilitated by the Minister of Public Health on global health issues, including serving as Chair of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization.

She indicated that the Global South Health Policy Initiative would also benefit from the expertise of leading global institutions in Qatar, such as the College of Health Sciences at Qatar University and the College of Public Policy at Hamad bin Khalifa University, among many others.

“From my perspective as Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, focusing on public health issues in the Global South alines very well with the development priorities of the State of Qatar and the strategic vision of the Qatar Fund for Development,” sheadded.

“In 2021, Qatar provided over $70mn in development assistance to support healthcare in developing countries with significant funding going to international institutions and initiatives combating infectious diseases and delivering vaccines,” sheadded.

“The progress on some key health indicators has stalled in recent years, even before the pandemic. A better understanding of implementation barriers and bottlenecks limiting progress is needed to ensure that global efforts are successful. Such an understanding requires platforms to engage more openly and effectively with public health administrators and professionals from the Global South to better understand the bottlenecks they face and to develop strategies for overcoming them.”