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UN Population Fund sets up office to promote health in Gulf region

UN Population Fund sets up office to promote health in Gulf region

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has set up its first sub-regional office to serve the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – providing scientific and technical assistance to improve social, health and cultural welfare.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has set up its first sub-regional office to serve the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – providing scientific and technical assistance to improve social, health and cultural welfare.

UNFPA considers its cooperation with the GCC ministries of health as essential for the well-being of the citizens of these countries, particularly for the promotion of the health of women and their families,” agency Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said at the opening ceremony in Muscat, Oman, earlier this week.

The opening of the new office “is a reaffirmation of the role that UNFPA can play in assisting the GCC countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by contributing to the quality of people’s lives.”

The MDGs, set by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000, seek to slash a host of socio-economic ills, such as extreme hunger and poverty, infant and maternal mortality, and lack of access to education and medical care, all by 2015.

The office, funded by the Government of Oman, will enhance cooperation on population issues between GCC members and UNFPA, and provide scientific and technical assistance to support national efforts by these countries to improve the social, health and cultural welfare of their people.

UNFPA has been working with Oman on population issues for the last two decades. Common projects on population data collection have helped the country achieve its development goals, which are fully in line with the MDGs. The cooperation also includes projects on maternal and child health and reproductive health.