GENEVA — Minister of Health Fahad Al-Jalajel confirmed that Saudi Arabia next year will be involved in the United Nations Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance, and will host the Fourth High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance.

The conference is scheduled to be held in November 2024, in an effort to apply the One Health, an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment, and to respond to public health risks, the most important of which is the threat of resistance to antibiotics.

Al-Jalajel expressed hope that these activities will contribute to reducing the spread of “this silent epidemic”, finding effective and sustainable solutions to it, and boosting readiness to deal with it and other public health threats at regional and international levels.

A Saudi delegation headed by Al-Jalajel is participating in the 76th session of the World Health Assembly, held under the theme “WHO at 75: saving lives, driving health for all”, at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, during the period May 21-30.

Al-Jalajel said that the Kingdom seeks to achieve the goals of the G20 Riyadh Summit Leaders Declaration of 2020, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, including the need for long-term solutions to address gaps in global pandemic preparedness and response, and follow up on the outcome of the launch of the Pandemic Fund, to which the Kingdom has made a donation.

The Kingdom also seeks to continue the serious work at national, regional and international levels to face epidemics, he said.

“In today’s meeting, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of WHO, and we affirm our lofty goals, our persistent pursuit to save lives and advance health for all,” Al-Jalajel said at the meeting.

He further commended the efforts made by the WHO and member states to amend the International Health Regulations, and the ongoing negotiations to draft the Pandemic Treaty.

The treaty aims to find additional legal tools to deal with future pandemics and avoid the obstacles and challenges that the world faced in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. — SPA