Governor of Northern Governorate HE Ali Al Asfoor, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Dr Samya Bahram, WHO Representative in Bahrain Dr Tasnim Atatrah, WHO Regional Adviser for Health Promotion and Social Determinants of Health Dr Samar ElFeky and the team at the Northern Governorate Office. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Bahrain.19 November 2024, Manama, Bahrain – WHO conducted a 3-day mission from 11 to 13 November to Bahrain’s Northern Governorate as part of the healthy city evaluation process.
A delegation comprising representatives from the Ministry of Health, the WHO Country Office in Bahrain and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean took part in the field visits.
The WHO healthy city programme aims to improve the health of populations by involving communities to promote health and well-being and improve equity. By promoting collaboration across sectors and the inclusion of health in all policies it seeks to improve well-being in a holistic way rather than focusing exclusively on the health sector.
Mission members at a local school in the Northern Governorate. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Bahrain.Visit sites were selected after a thorough consideration of the social determinants of health and covered the programme’s 9 domains – community organization/mobilization for health development; intersectoral collaboration; availability of information; environmental health; health development; education and literacy; skill development and capacity building; microcredit activities and emergency preparedness and response. To be recognized, a healthy city must meet at least 80% of the 80 indicators set by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
In Bahrain’s Northern Governorate, A’ali has been recognized as a Healthy City since 2022.
Mission members visit one of the designated sites focused on green areas. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Bahrain.In 2023, the Northern Governor signed a letter of collaboration with the WHO Representative in Bahrain to expand the healthy cities programme from A’ali to the entirety of the Northern Governorate. A year later, in July 2024, a team from the Ministry of Health and WHO Country Office visited the Northern Governorate Office to provide technical support to perform the self-assessment phase before the in-country evaluation visit.
Creating an enabling environment for health, well-being and quality of life through scaling up the healthy city programme is high on Bahrain's agenda and the Northern Governorate is the second Bahraini governorate to be evaluated as a healthy city, following Capital Governorate.
Relevant links:
WHO designates 2 additional cities in Bahrain as healthy cities
Healthy Cities initiative expands to governorates in Bahrain
Scaling up Bahrain’s healthy cities programme
