RIYADH: The Saudi health minister, Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, received a global health award on behalf of the Kingdom for its excellence and leading role in combating smoking in Geneva on Wednesday, at the 72nd session of the World Health Assembly.
Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries to ratify the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005, an ambitious strategic tobacco control plan to reduce smoking rates from 12.7 percent to 5 percent by 2030.
The assembly also praised the Kingdom’s efforts in reducing trans fats levels in the food industry, in accordance with the WHO’s goal to eradicate the use of synthetic trans fats by 2023.
The Kingdom also received two Healthy Cities Accreditation Certificates from the WHO for work done in the cities of Onaiza and Riyadh Al-Khubara. The pair join Ad Diriyah, Jalajel and Al-Jumum as WHO accredited healthy cities, and their certificates were collected by the undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Hani Jokhadar, who extended his thanks to Al-Rabiah for his continued work in supporting the healthy cities program.
Saudi Arabia receives global anti-smoking award
Saudi Arabia receives global anti-smoking award
- The Kingdom ratified the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005
- The Kingdom’s efforts in reducing trans fats levels in the food industry was also praised
KSrelief transfers Gaza girl to Jordan for cancer treatment
- Roza Al-Dreimli in Jordan because Israel destroyed Gaza hospitals
- Under assessment, monitoring at the King Hussein Cancer Center
AMMAN: A cancer-stricken Palestinian girl from Gaza is now undergoing clinical observation prior to treatment at a specialist hospital in Jordan, thanks to Saudi Arabia’s aid agency KSrelief.
Roza Al-Dreimli was transported to Amman from the Gaza Strip through the initiative of KSrelief, as a part of Saudi Arabia’s continued medical support for Palestinians, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday.
Al-Dreimli was prioritized because assessments indicated the need for advanced treatment of cancerous cells at the base of her brain. She is at the King Hussein Cancer Center, and being treated by a team of pediatricians.
She is currently undergoing “intensive clinical monitoring” to “ensure control of the condition, and prevent any potential neurological or visual complications resulting from the tumor’s location,” the SPA reported.
Al-Dreimli’s family expressed profound gratitude for KSrelief’s swift intervention, and hoped the specialized care would ensure a full recovery.
Such specialized care is currently unavailable in the Gaza Strip because of Israel’s alleged genocidal destruction of hospitals and killing of medical workers since Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel has systematically destroyed homes and commercial buildings and infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave, killing over 70,000 Palestinians, many of them unarmed men, women and children, and injuring more than 170,000.
Tel Aviv has stated that its actions were in retaliation to a raid by Hamas of Israeli border villages, during which the militant group reportedly killed more than 1,200 people and took 254 hostages.
