Critical Issues In Healthcare Policy And Politics In The Gulf Cooperation Council States

This is the first book to examine challenges in the healthcare sector in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain). These countries experienced remarkably swift transformations from small fishing and pearling communities at the beginning of the twentieth century to wealthy petro-states today. Their healthcare systems, however, are only now beginning to catch up. Rapid changes to the population and lifestyles of the GCC states have completely changed—and challenged—the region’s health profile and infrastructure. While major successes in combatting infectious diseases and improving standards of primary healthcare are reflected in key health indicators, new trends have developed; increasingly “lifestyle” or “wealthy country” diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, have replaced the old maladies. To meet these emerging healthcare needs, GCC states require highly trained and skilled healthcare workers, an environment that supports local training, state-of-the-art diagnostic laboratories and hospitals, research production and dissemination, and knowledge acquisition. They face shortages in most if not all of these areas. This book provides a comprehensive study of the rapidly changing health profile of the region, the existing conditions of healthcare systems, and the challenges posed to healthcare management across the six states of the GCC.

This volume reviews the public health concerns and challenges specific to the complex Arab world from a multidisciplinary perspective.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

This report examines what binds and divides the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—and presents the outlook for the GCC’s evolution over the next ten years. The study aims to help policymakers better understand intra-GCC dynamics and prepare for future trends in a region with high stakes for U.S. strategic interests.

The formation of human capital--the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lifetimes--is critical for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Human capital contributes not only to human development and employment but also to the long-term sustainability of a diversified economic growth model that is knowledge based and private sector driven. This approach is critical, given that income from oil and gas will eventually decline and that the nature of work is evolving in response to rapid technological changes, in turn demanding new skill sets. The GCC governments have demonstrated their strong political will for this shift: four of them are among the first countries to join the World Bank’s Human Capital Project—a global effort to improve investments in people as measured by the Human Capital Index. The GCC countries face four main challenges: • Low levels of basic proficiency among schoolchildren • A mismatch between education and the labor market • A relatively high rate of adult mortality and morbidity • A unique labor market , in which wages in the public sector are more generous than in the private sector and government employment of nationals is virtually guaranteed To address these challenges, this report outlines four strategies in a“whole-of-government†? approach: • Investing in high-quality early childhood development • Preparing healthier, better educated, and skilled youth for the future • Enabling greater adult labor force participation • Creating an enabling environment for human capital formation These strategies are based on best practices in other countries and feature some of the GCC countries’ plans, including their national “Visions,†? to take their economies and societies further into the twenty-first century. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the GCC countries face additional challenges that may worsen some preexisting vulnerabilities and erode human capital. In response, the GCC governments have taken multiple measures to protect their populations’ health and their economies. Any country’s decision to reopen its economy needs to closely consider public health consequences to avoid a resurgence of infections and any further erosion of its human capital. The COVID-19 crisis underscores that the need to accelerate and improve investment in human capital has never been greater. Once the GCC countries return to a “new normal,†? they will be in a position to achieve diversified and sustainable growth by adopting, and then tailoring, the strategies presented in this report.

Departmental papers are usually focused on a specific economic topic, country, or region. They are prepared in a timely way to support the outreach needs of the IMF’s area and functional departments.

This book compares national and centralised procedure practices and key performance metrics, including current approval times, review practices and pharmacovigilance standards, in the seven Gulf States. Opportunities for an improved regulatory system are identified, which, if fully implemented, could have a significant impact on patients’ access to new medicines. The Persian Gulf represents the next growth market for the global biopharmaceutical industry but to date there has been limited information about the regulatory review processes employed in these countries. A thorough examination of the strategies currently being implemented by the Gulf States is considered critical to the future regulatory environment in this region. Pharmaceutical Regulatory Environment: Challenges & Opportunities in the Gulf Region is a must read for those interested in pharmaceutical regulation in the Gulf region.

Medicine, Patients and the Lawis a leading book in its field, aimed at practitioners and students of both law and medicine, as well as the general reader. It examines the regulation of medical practice, the rights and duties of patients and their medical advisers, the provision of compensation for medical mishaps and the framework of rules governing those delicate issues of life and death where medicine, morals and the law overlap. The fourth edition of this highly acclaimed book is fully updated to cover recent changes in law and medical practice. Among other current issues, it addresses the radical reforms proposed by the Shipman Inquiry, the impact of change within the NHS, the Mental Capacity Act of 2005 and includes a new chapter on access to health care. Clear explanations of legal issues make this book accessible and absorbing.