Bahrain’s advances in healthcare bring pride

Owing to the advances in healthcare sector and the installation of innovative technology, Bahrain scored high in a world health index released by the Bloomberg Rankings recently.

In the ‘world’s healthiest countries’ ranking, Bahrain came in the 35th position with a health grade of 64.32 per cent, right after the United States (66.84pc) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (64.99pc). Bahrain also achieved a total health score of 72.27pc and a health risk penalty of only 7.27pc.

The Kingdom also came in the 4th position from the Middle East and 3rd among GCC countries. Using data from the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation, the Bloomberg Rankings gave each country with a population of 1 million or more a health score and a health-risk score.

Each country’s place was calculated by subtracting their risk score from their health score. The top position in the list was occupied by Singapore with a whopping 89.45pc health grade. Singapore was followed by Italy and Australia. The top positions from the GCC countries were occupied by the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

The health score is based on factors such as life expectancy from birth and causes of death, while health-risk is based on factors, which could impede health such as the proportion of young people who smoke, the number of people with raised cholesterol and the number of immunisations.

Talking to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Director Helen Clark, Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa stressed on Saturday that health is one among the priorities in the government’s strategy.

Bahrain is one among the countries, which has achieved the UN millennium development goals, which consists of various factors from the health sector including reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.

WHO statistics claim that “comprehensive health services are provided to the citizens in Bahrain free of charge”. WHO’s Country Cooperation Strategy data points out that health status indicators show an advanced level of health.

“Communicable Diseases are largely under control in Bahrain. The country has a very efficient immunization programme,” it added.

Caption : Picture for representational purpose

Report by 

Nitya Punnackal/DTNN

news@dt.bh