KUWAIT CITY, June 23: Dr. Amal Al-Yahya, Director of the Healthy Cities Department at Kuwait’s Ministry of Health, emphasized the need for unified efforts across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to promote healthy cities, strengthen public health, and achieve sustainable development goals.

Speaking on Monday at the 24th meeting of the Joint Gulf Committee for Healthy Cities, Dr. Al-Yahya highlighted the value of regional cooperation, coordination, and community participation. She noted that collaboration among various sectors is essential to realize health-focused development outcomes.

Dr. Al-Yahya underscored the importance of finalizing the enhanced file on health-promoting malls and markets, calling the Healthy Cities initiative a strong platform for intersectoral collaboration. “This initiative fosters joint action between sectors to achieve shared goals and promote public health,” she stated.

The meeting’s agenda includes discussions on implementing the health-promoting commercial malls project, a review of prior decisions, and preparations needed at the national level to support its rollout across the GCC. This includes capacity-building efforts, adoption of tested models, and evaluation mechanisms.

As part of the meeting, a two-day training course will be held starting Tuesday, aimed at building the capacities of those managing health-promoting malls across GCC states. Participants will also conduct field visits to malls that have successfully passed previous evaluation stages.

Additionally, the committee will review the schedule of upcoming evaluation visits and examine the recommendations from the Second Kuwait Conference on Healthy Cities, held last February. Discussions will focus on transforming those recommendations into an actionable and practical work plan.

Dr. Al-Yahya also stressed the importance of preparing a comprehensive operational plan, increasing the number of cities registered and accredited under the World Health Organization’s Healthy Cities standards, and empowering civil society to play a greater role in advancing sustainable health and development initiatives.

The overarching goal, she noted, is to make tangible progress in environmental sustainability and public health across healthy cities in the Gulf region.