Participants in the Third GCC Conference for the Health of the Youth and Adolescents have embraced Jeddah Declaration for establishing a national GCC reference point (an agency, organization, etc.) which shall promote the health of adolescents and youth, as well as prompting the community participation, working under the umbrella of the Executive Board of the GCC Council of Ministers of Health, with the participation of national and regional organizations: World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA).
The MOH Spokesperson, Dr. Khaled bin Mohammed Merghalani, explained that the conference, held in Jeddah under the patronage of His Royal Highness the Governor of Makkah, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, from 8 to 10 April 2012, hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Conference was inaugurated by His Royal Highness the Governor of Jeddah, Prince Mish'aal bin Majed bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Jeddah, and was concluded on Tuesday evening.
Dr. Merghalani noted that this proposed reference organization will be responsible for activating and determining the database profiles on the health of adolescents and youth, offering counseling and advice to the GCC Member States with regard to the planning of national programs and the formulation of health policies for the preservation of the health of adolescents and young people, and forming a GCC network for the health of young people, so as to serve as a focal point of research results and activities in this area, in addition to the acquisition and dissemination of successful experiences in promoting the health of adolescents and youth. That's to be added to assisting States in developing policies that promote the health of adolescents and young people for a better life, and addressing other risk factors endangering their health, as well as the delivery of health information on young people to decision-makers to increase awareness and allocate the necessary funds and other support procedures, in addition to facilitating the issuance of other related policies. This organization shall also be responsible for supporting the financial allocations in national budgets devoted to spending on the health of young people, in addition to the emphasis on the mechanism of planning and the national programs meant to promote and prioritize the health of young people.
Dr. Merghalani went on to say that the recommendations called for the invitation of all Member States to the implementation of the national plans of the health of young people, and facing risk factors at all levels of the decision-making process, by providing a supportive environment that enhances the health of young people based on legislative actions; secondly, individuals, through a behavior that supports healthy food, refrain from smoking and engage in regular physical activity, and, finally, those concerned with the health of young people, through the identification and treatment of individuals at risk.
Dr. Merghalani added that the recommendations called for strengthening the policies enabling young people in the field of health and community care that are offered in integration with all other systems to enhance the health of young people with a focus on the role of protecting the family and society through the use of the entrance to the life cycles of health and risk factors since childhood, and the creation of an effective and affordable mechanism to monitor the data on the prevalence of risk factors, especially among young people, and working to enact laws and legislations on the health of young people within the frameworks and policies of promoting health, and guiding health promotion programs to change the attitudes and acquire the skills necessary to modify behaviors, and monitoring activities and their results, and preparingtraining programs for the people working in the health of adolescents and young people to ensure the high quality of the services and health care delivered for young people and youth, and employing the media and mobilizing all efforts in a sustainable manner in order to achieve an informed media directed towards the society, especially young people.
Dr. Merghalani also explained that the recommendations urged to employ the means of social communication in programs oriented to young people and work to form discussion groups, in addition to the adoption of modern indicative evidence to promote the health of young people based on evidence and approved by the organizations and concerned international bodies. This promotion includes the translation into Arabic, and concordance with the national standards and the GCC requirements, and to be guided by the codes of the World Health Organization as a general framework for the implementation of national strategies in the health of adolescents and youth, and the support ofresearch and scientific studies on the technology of the application of policies promoting the health of young people, and working on the preparation of Gulf scientific research in the field of thehealth of young people, and working on the formulation of unified Gulf strategy for the health of adolescents and young people.
The recommendations referred to the invitation of Member States and participating organizations to regular meetings to exchange experiences and offer best practices and experiments, and to reviewthe achieved progress of the activities planned in the areas of policies and programs for the health of adolescents and young people.
Inconclusion, the final recommendation of the Gulf Conference for the health of young people was the invitation of the Executive Office of the Council of Ministers of health of the Gulf Cooperation Council to inform the Member States, participating organizations and other organizations, such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and the World Health Organization about this announcement.