The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said that it has listed 5 health indicators, in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO), to enable the decision-makers to develop planning strategies and health policies nationwide, as part of exploring healthcare future and achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs).
The inclusion of the health indicators came on the sidelines of the workshop, organized by MoHAP recently, at the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority’s headquarters (FCSA). The two-day workshop witnessed the participation of Dr. Henry Victor, a specialist expert from WHO and focused on the mechanism of calculating the indicators of life expectancy at birth, average healthy life expectancy, mortality, fertility indicators and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Department of Health - Abu Dhabi, Dubai Health Authority, and all the country’s statistical centers took part in the workshop.
The Importance of Statistical Data in the Development
Alya Zaid Harbi, Director of MoHAP’s Statistics and Research Center, emphasized the importance of the inclusion of these five health indicators to align with WHO’s latest recommendations and contribute to strengthening the country’s leadership position in world health reports.
“As one of the impactful factors in shaping governmental policies and enhancing sustainable development, the statistical data has a vital role in decision-making mechanisms through the key role the numbers and statistics play in articulating the future vision and measuring health indicators to improve healthcare services, so as to bolster planning strategies and health policies nationwide,” she added.
She also shed light on the importance of the workshop in unifying the methodology of data collection to develop the statistical work, unify the outcomes, improve the quality of statistical data and implement the best international practices.
This will help decision-makers prepare and shape the national plans, strategies, and benchmarks with a view to exploring healthcare future and enhancing healthcare services. This comes within the context of reinforcing healthcare initiatives and projects which improve the national health indicators outcomes and in accordance to the objectives of National Agenda 2021 and sustainable development goals 2030.
Health Indicators Quality Improvement
H.E. Mohammed Hassan, Executive Director of National Statistics and Data Sector at the FCSA, said: “We were pleased to host Dr. Victor and other participants to discuss the inclusion of the five health indicators and the workshop on the mechanism of calculating the indicators of life expectancy at birth, average age of health and fertility indicators, in addition to the index of comprehensive health coverage.”
He added that the workshop comes as part of FCSA’s efforts to develop the national statistical system in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Prevention.
“We hope this workshop and its outcomes would help improve the quality of health indicators and reinforce the country’s march toward achieving the national health indicators, Sustainable Development Goals and elevate competitiveness indicators which monitor the country’s healthcare services,” Hassan pointed out.