Dr Hanadi al-Hamad, national lead for Healthy Ageing for the Qatar Ministry of Public Health (National Health Strategy 2018 – 2022) and medical director of Rumailah Hospital and the Qatar Rehabilitation Institute at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) was among a cohort of international recipients of World Health Organisation awards Friday.
Organised during the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, the special awards ceremony recognised seven individuals from different countries who were awarded specific prizes for their remarkable achievements in public health-related areas.
Dr al-Hamad, who is also the chairperson of the Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care at HMC, was the sole recipient of the prestigious His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion.



During the formal awards ceremony, which was attended by Qatar's Minister of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari and an accompanying delegation, Kuwait's Minister of Health Dr Khaled al-Saeed presented Dr al-Hamad with the prize on behalf of the Kuwait Health Promotion Foundation. The minister commended Dr al-Hamad on her tremendous efforts in enhancing care of older persons which has resulted in her significant achievements.
Dr al-Hamad expressed her appreciation to the Assembly President and Dr al-Saeed for the honour of being selected as the recipient of this important prize: “I gladly accept this award not only for myself but also on behalf of my whole team, who have been the cornerstone of all that we have achieved and all that we still plan to do in the future in developing best practice care for our older population in Qatar and the region.”



“In my capacity as Qatar’s National Health Strategy lead for healthy aging, I have been committed to enhancing high quality healthcare services for older adults, long-term care patients and people living with dementia. Alongside these efforts to develop better clinical services, we have also focused on illness prevention strategies designed to promote healthy ageing awareness and practices in our population. The recognition is due to our efforts to achieve the goals of our National Health Strategy 2018-2022 which focuses on care of our elder population and our Qatar National Vision 2030,” added Dr al-Hamad.
The theme of this year’s World Health Assembly is ‘Health for peace, peace for health’ and the recently elected President of the Assembly, Dr Ahmed Robleh Abdilleh, Djibouti Health Minister, presided over the awards ceremony, along with senior representatives responsible for presenting each award to their respective awardee.