Public participation urged in health strategy

The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) recently participated in the Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare 2017 organised by Hamad Medical Corporation in collaboration with the US-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
At the forum, members of the WISH team guided event delegates through details of a variety of WISH’s evidence-based research projects that focus on positively impacting healthcare.  
Egbert Schillings, CEO of WISH, an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, gave a presentation at a special session that launched the Qatar Public Health Strategy 2017-22 Consultation – a survey created by Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health that invites feedback on public health issues in Qatar.
Schillings urged the public to take an active role in the task of improving the nation’s health by completing the survey. He pointed out that creating a healthier society in Qatar should not be viewed as solely the responsibility of those working in the healthcare sector, but individual members of society should also play their part.
Schillings said:,“What we have seen over and over again is that local employers, schools, community organisations and individuals are eager and ready to make a positive impact on the population’s health.”
“Encouraging wide-ranging community engagement is a crucial element of Qatar’s aim of creating a healthy population in the long-term. The factors that determine a population’s health are numerous and intertwined; health is shaped by the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work, play and age. We are all co-creators of our health and the public cannot be passive in developing a strong health strategy,” he added.