Riyadh, October 22, 2022, SPA -- Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Health ministers inaugurated today in Riyadh the "Gulf Center for Disease Prevention and Control", previously approved by the GCC Supreme Council during the Sultan Qaboos and Sheikh Sabah's Summit (AlUla -January 2021), aimed at strengthening coordination, building knowledge and producing evidence to enable the prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases, mitigate public health emergencies, and promote healthy communities across the GCC. The event was also attended by the GCC Secretary-General Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf. The ministers discussed various issues of common interest and took appropriate decisions accordingly, including the implementation of decisions and directives of the Supreme Council in the health field, and implementation of the joint future action plan, in addition to following up on the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005), supporting cooperation projects in healthy cities and organizing registration and classification of health specialties in the GCC states, as well as the decisions that support the continuation of cooperation and coordination of work between the GCC states, and other countries and international cooperation in the health sector. Dr. Al-Hajraf lauded the Saudi Ministry of Health's efforts in launching the center aiming to boost health cooperation to set policies and common indicators as well as share information among the GCC countries, and its vital role in assessing risks and activating common action programs and plans, in addition to backing and enhancing training and using health data to develop joint Gulf indicators and research. --SPA 18:41 LOCAL TIME 15:41 GMT 0013 www.spa.gov.sa/w1801282