Kuwait highlights unified Gulf efforts for Healthy Cities at GCC committee meeting

Dr. Amal Al-Yahya, Director of the Healthy Cities Department at the Kuwait Ministry of Health, emphasized the need for unifying Gulf efforts to promote public health and sustainable development across member states during the 24th meeting of the Joint Gulf Committee for Healthy Cities, held under the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

In her address, Dr. Al-Yahya underscored the significance of collaboration among sectors and countries to achieve shared health goals. She stated that the Healthy Cities Initiative provides an ideal platform for cross-sectoral cooperation aimed at advancing community health and development objectives, reports Al-Rai daily.

A key focus of the meeting was finalizing the “Muazaz” project, a regional framework for health-promoting complexes and shopping malls. The initiative seeks to transition from country-specific efforts to a Gulf-wide implementation strategy, aligning with broader goals of capacity building, model standardization, and robust evaluation mechanisms.

Dr. Al-Yahya also announced the launch of a two-day training course beginning Tuesday to enhance the skills of participants involved in the development of health-promoting shopping malls across GCC countries. The training will include field visits to successful mall models that have passed evaluation phases.

The meeting also addressed the evaluation visit schedule and reviewed recommendations from the Second Kuwait Conference on Healthy Cities, held in February, which aimed to solidify a unified Gulf vision for sustainable urban health development.

The event reflects Kuwait’s ongoing leadership and commitment to regional health cooperation and sustainable community planning.