Gulf Times
2 Monday, October 26, 2020
QATAR
Renowned
‘Dr Tom’ to Q
be keynote
speaker at
WISH ’20
T
he World Innovation Sum-
mit for Health (WISH) has
announced Dr Tom Cat-
ena as a keynote speaker at its
upcoming summit, happening
virtually from November 15-19
under the banner ‘One World
Our Health’.
‘Dr Tom’, as he is affectionately
known to his patients, is the only
surgeon for approximately 1.3mn
people in the war-ravaged Nuba
Mountains of South Kordofan,
Sudan. He has served in Africa
for over 20 years, dealing with
bombing by fighter jets, epidem-
ics, and a chronic lack of equip-
ment. He helped to establish the
Gidel Mother of Mercy Hospital,
a 435-bed facility, which opened
in 2008 and remains the only
major provider of medical care in
a vast region.
In 2017, Dr Tom was awarded
the prestigious Aurora Prize in
recognition of his extensive hu-
manitarian efforts.
The story of his extraordinary
work and courage is the subject
of an internationally acclaimed
and award-winning documen-
tary film, ‘The Heart of Nuba’,
released in 2016. During WISH
2020, the American physician
will share his personal perspec-
tive on delivering healthcare in
challenging humanitarian set-
tings, and talk about training and
health education in a setting of
prolonged conflict.
Referring to his upcoming
speech, Dr Tom said: “To pro-
vide high quality healthcare, one
needs well-trained and motivat-
ed staff. By speaking at the WISH
conference, I’d like to highlight
some of our efforts to provide
training and good care to the
MoPH reports 128,099
total Covid recoveries
QNA
Doha
T
he Ministry of Public
Health (MoPH) reported
yesterday 205 new con-
firmed cases of Covid-19 in the
last 24 hours, of which 172 are
from community cases and 33
from travellers returning from
abroad. In addition, the min-
istry announced the death of a
66-year-old patient who had
received the necessary medical
care.
The MoPH also recorded 231
recoveries in the last 24 hours,
bringing the total number of
Dr Tom Catena
Nuba people despite protracted
conflict.”
Sultana Afdhal, CEO of WISH,
said: “We are honoured that Dr
Tom Catena will be one of our
keynote speakers. His single-
minded determination to enable
access to healthcare for millions
of displaced and conflict-affect-
ed people in the Nuba Moun-
tains, and elsewhere on the Af-
rican continent, is a goal close to
our heart at WISH.
It was a theme at WISH 2018
and is still our focus, because
even in conflict settings, the glo-
bal goal of universal health cov-
erage and its pledge to ‘leave no
one behind’ must be guarded.”
The biennial summit serves as
the main gathering of the exten-
sive WISH global community. As
Qatar Foundation’s global health
initiative, WISH was created to
disseminate seminal, evidence-
based content and showcase the
latest innovations in healthcare.
This year, the summit will
explore topics such as climate
change and health, mental health
in the digital age, and the chal-
lenges created globally by Cov-
id-19.
recoveries to 128,099. All new
cases have been introduced to
isolation and are receiving nec-
essary healthcare according to
their health status.
Measures to tackle Covid-19
in Qatar have succeeded in flat-
tening the curve and limiting
the spread of the virus and the
number of new daily cases and
hospital admissions is continu-
ing to decline each week. Qatar’s
proactive and extensive testing
of suspected cases has enabled
the authorities to identify a high
number of positive cases in the
community. Qatar has one of the
lowest Covid-19 death rates in
the world.
QRCS to the aid of Peruvian
communities in Covid battle
atar Red Crescent Soci-
ety (QRCS) is working
on a project to support
the Peruvian government’s epi-
demiological control strategy to
prevent the spread of Covid-19
through community transmis-
sion. The project is aimed at en-
hancing the preventive control
of Covid-19 in transit areas and
disseminating reliable informa-
tion for coronavirus prevention
in urban areas, QRCS has said in
a statement.
A total of 3,000 people will
benefit from the project in
three vulnerable communi-
ties of San Juan de Lurigancho
district, Lima. Up to the date of
this report, the tasks accom-
plished include the purchase
of control/protection equip-
ment, supplies for hygiene and
protection kits, and backpack
sprayers for disinfection, the
statement notes.
Together with the provincial
branch of the Peruvian Red Cross
in Lima, the volunteers assem-
bled the protection and cleaning
kits to be distributed in the vul-
nerable communities affected by
Covid-19.
The distribution activities be-
gan in the three target communi-
ties.
So far, hygiene and disinfec-
tion kits have been delivered to
174 families (522 people) as fol-
lows: Asentamiento Humano
Residencial El Paraíso (38 fami-
lies), Asociacion Centro Poblado
las Casuarinas de Jicamarca (86
families) and Asociacion de Vivi-
enda Residencial El Paraíso (50
families).
The distributions were made
in compliance with the social
distancing measures imposed
by the government. At the same
time, key messages were dissem-
inated during the distributions to
reinforce prevention and care be-
haviours against Covid-19.
This project is part of QRCS’s
initiative to back the fellow na-
tional societies in 22 countries
across six continents, aimed
at protecting 320,000 people
against the virus, with a total
budget of QR2,236,827.
Participants of the workshop with trainers and officials.
MoTC workshop concludes
T
he Ministry of Transport
and Communications
(MoTC) recently held a
workshop on the ‘Navigation
Risks that Threaten Maritime
Security’, which was attended by
several maritime specialists from
the Ministry of Defence, Minis-
try of Interior and Qatar Petro-
leum.
Specialised trainers from the
United States Fifth Fleet de-
livered the workshop, which
marked an “unprecedented kind
PPC highlights achievements as it marks Population Day
QNA
Doha
T
he Permanent Population
Committee (PPC) cel-
ebrates Qatar Population
Day 2020, through social me-
dia, in the light of precautionary
measures imposed to limit the
spread of the new coronavirus
(Covid-19).
The Permanent Population
Committee has been celebrating
Qatar Population Day in late Oc-
tober of each year, with the aim of
raising awareness of population
issues, in the context of compre-
hensive development plans and
programmes, especially the Qa-
tar National Vision 2030 and the
National Development Strategy.
In its celebration this year, the
A volunteer readying the protection kits.
Volunteers distribute protection kits to community members in Lima.
These countries are Pales-
tine, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Nepal, Tajikistan, Mongolia,
Laos, Vanuatu, Ethiopia, Chad,
Senegal, Mauritania, Ivory
Coast, Mali, Sierra Leone, Al-
bania, Kosovo, Montenegro,
Venezuela, El Salvador, Peru
and Panama.
The list of activities conduct-
ed by QRCS in support of those
of collaboration with a civilian
ministry, thus enhancing the ef-
forts of maritime transport af-
fairs at the MoTC that aim at up-
scaling the expertise of maritime
specialists across all relevant
government entities”, a press
statement noted.
The expert trainers delivered
full explanation on navigation
risks that floating objects can
cause and which threaten the
maritime navigation.
The workshop was held from
committee will focus on high-
lighting Qatar’s population pol-
icy (2017-2022) on one hand and
introducing the Committee and
its achievements on the other
hand, especially with regard to
achieving harmonisation be-
tween population requirements
and sustainable development.
Since its establishment under
Cabinet Resolution No 24 of
2004, the Permanent Population
Committee has developed the
first population policy (2009-
2014) and the second (2017-
2022), with the aim of improv-
ing the quality of life of Qatar’s
population, both citizens and
residents.
In this context, HE the Presi-
dent of Planning and Statistics
Authority, and Chairman of the
Committee, Dr Saleh Mohamed
countries includes the provi-
sion of equipment and supplies
for health facilities, provision of
medicines and medical supplies,
protection for medical profes-
sionals and volunteers, provision
of food and shelter for families
worst affected by loss of income,
and provision of protective sup-
plies (masks, gloves and sanitis-
ers, among others).
October 20-22 at the MoTC of-
fices. At the end of the workshop,
the ministry’s Assistant Under-
secretary of Maritime Trans-
port Affairs Dr Saleh bin Fetais
al-Marri handed over workshop
attendance certificates to the
participants and thanked the US
Fifth Fleet trainers for the co-
operation, which would signifi-
cantly contribute to sharpening
maritime specialists’ skills and
expertise in the area of naviga-
tion risks.
Salem al-Nabit stressed the im-
portance of the committee’s role
in following up the implemen-
tation of the state’s population
policy in co-operation with all
partners as well as the imple-
mentation of sectoral policies re-
lated to Qatar’s National Devel-
opment Strategies (2018-2022).
Qatar Second Population
Policy included a set of plans and
programmes aimed at bringing
about quantitative and qualita-
tive change in the population
variables, in order to ensure a
decent life for the residents of
Qatar, raise their capabilities,
expand their options and raise
their levels of participation in the
advancement of the Qatari soci-
ety through six axes, the first of
which is the population and the
workforce.
Qatar provides medical
aid, materials to Bolivia
Qatar’s non-resident ambassador to Peru and Bolivia Ali bin
Hamad al-Sulaiti delivered medical aid and materials provided
by Qatar to Bolivia to support its efforts in limiting the spread
of Covid-19. The aid was received by Charge d’Affairs of the
embassy of Bolivia in Peru Luis Fernando Peredo Rojas at the
headquarters of the Qatari embassy in Peru. In a speech on
this occasion, Luis Fernando thanked Qatar for its permanent
support and its humanitarian stance by standing by Bolivia in
light of Covid-19 outbreak.
Qatar participates in GCC meeting
of education ministers
Qatar participated yesterday in the 4th meeting of the committee of
Ministers of Education in the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council
(GCC), which was organised by via videoconferencing. The ministerial
meeting discussed the final statement and the Riyadh Declaration
of the 40th session of the Supreme Council in the countries of the
co-operation council and facing the crisis of the emerging coronavirus
(Covid-19). The meeting also discussed the follow-up to the decisions
of the third meeting of the committee, including the inclusion of
archaeology in the curricula of public education and the strengthening
of the role of educational institutions in developing a culture of
volunteer work and promoting sports practices among all segments
of society. This is in addition to the issue of international co-operation
and other topics on its agenda, and appropriate decisions were taken in
their regard.
Minister receives phone call from UN
special representative in Libya
HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi
received yesterday a phone call from Acting Special Representative of
the UN secretary-general in Libya, Stephanie Williams. During the call,
they reviewed developments of the situation in Libya, in addition to
issues of common concern.
Dr Saleh bin Fetais al-Marri hands over workshop attendance
certificates to the participants.
Dr Saleh bin Fetais al-Marri thanks the US Fifth Fleet trainers for the
co-operation.
It aims to control population general health of the population,
growth rates during the period improve the reality of reproduc-
from 2017-2022, leading to a tive health and provide its servic-
gradual reform of demographic es in line with the increase in the
imbalances. population and its geographical
The second axis is concerned distribution.
with urban growth, housing and The fifth axis for women and
the environment. It aims to de- childhood came to support the
velop and create urban centres societal participation of wom-
far from Greater Doha, provide en, and to provide the neces-
a clean urban environment and sary conditions to increase their
ensure the sustainability of natu- participation in the labour force
ral resources, while the third axis while maintaining family cohe-
focuses on education, training sion and ensuring a safe environ-
and youth and aims to raise the ment for children.
quality of education and train- The sixth axis is related to the
ing and expand opportunities for elderly and persons with dis-
the participation of youth of both abilities, in an effort to enhance
genders in society and in public their active participation in vari-
life. ous community activities, enable
The fourth axis is related to them to integrate into society and
public health and reproductive to continuously improve their
health. Its goal is to improve the means of care.