Sharjah Guides Kuwait's Age-Friendly City Journey
The workshop reviewed the Emirate of Sharjah's experience in the field of age-friendly cities. The workshop supported Kuwait's efforts to join UNESCO's Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities, which Sharjah became the first Arab city to join in 2017.
Enhancing Arab cooperation
The initiative comes within SSSD commitment to spreading the culture of age-friendly cities and sharing its expertise with relevant regional and international bodies. The department was keen to organise this training meeting to enhance Arab cooperation and provide the necessary technical and knowledge support to enable sister countries to adopt international standards in elderly care.
Asmaa Al-Khudari, Director of the Office of Age-Friendly Quality and Health Services at the department, explained that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health has shown great interest in joining the network, based on its significant efforts to serve the elderly through various projects and programmes.
Sharing Sharjah's pioneering experience
The ministry is currently seeking to unify these efforts within a comprehensive framework that takes into account the requirements of the international network.
Al-Khudari added that the meeting is the second of its kind to be organised at the official request of the ministry. It aims to help them implement the age-friendly city standards and share Sharjah's pioneering experience in this field.
Al-Khudari confirmed that SSSD always welcomes providing technical and advisory support to any entity seeking to create a better environment for the elderly.
Enhancing knowledge and exchanging experiences
Al-Khudari indicated that organising such workshops is part of the department's strategy to enhance knowledge and exchange experiences, and to consolidate Sharjah's role as a knowledge centre and source of inspiration for Arab cities seeking to improve services for the elderly.
Al-Khudari said she hopes to see soon see the State of Kuwait on the list of the global network member cities, alongside other Arab countries that embrace this shared humanitarian vision.
The workshop was attended by a number of officials from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health, including Dr. Fatima Bin Dhafari, Director of the Department of Health Services for the Elderly, and Dr. Amal Al Yahya, Director of the Healthy Cities Office. A number of coordinators from government and private institutions involved in serving the elderly also attended, along with a distinguished group of elderly Kuwaitis. This reflects the ministry's commitment to listening to their feedback and taking it into consideration when developing future policies and programmes.
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