The State of Qatar has prioritised investing in human development as part of its overall development agenda. It has prioritised health and education as two key sectors, to improve the quality of life and build a knowledge economy. The government spends approximately 20 percent of its total budget on health and education.
Under the wise leadership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatari citizens and residents enjoy a world-class healthcare system, which has been acknowledged for its performance and level of care. The country has the distinction of having all its municipalities recognised by the World Health Organization as Healthy Cities, in addition to Qatar University being recognised as ‘Healthy University’ and Qatar Foundation’s Education City as ‘Healthy Education City’. This achievement resulted from the implementation of the National Health Strategy 2018-2022.
The Ministry of Public Health and Qatar Foundation have also worked to advance medical research in the country. In the latest such step, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser has launched Qatar Precision Health Institute, to help accelerate the country’s adoption of personalised healthcare. The institute will bring together existing strengths in the field of health sciences and genomics within Qatar Biobank and Qatar Genome Programme. The QF Chairperson lauded Qatar’s leading role in the region in the field of precision medicine and genomics. “I am proud that Qatar was the first country in the region to establish a population-based genome programme, and has played a pioneering role in ensuring that Arab genomes are included in global genomic databases,” she said in her remarks at the launch of the institute on Tuesday.
Minister of Public Health H E Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari said the new institute demonstrates Qatar’s vision in harnessing the power of science and innovation to improve the health of our population.
Qatar Foundation has played an important role in the national efforts to put in place an innovative, integrated, and interconnected healthcare system, especially in the field of genome sequencing and creating an advanced biobabnk. Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Islamic Studies has also worked in the field of Islamic ethics in genomics and precision medicine. It is important to note that Qatar was the first country in the region to establish a population-based genome programme. Qatar Biobank has played a pioneering role in ensuring that Arab genomes are better represented in global genomic data pools. To date, Qatar Genome Programme has sequenced over 40,000 Qatari and Arab genomes, generating a wealth of data on the Arab genome.
