Sharjah: Officials said Sharjah is on track to becoming the region’s first Healthy City under World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
They expect the confirmation to come by late this year or early 2015.
The WHO Healthy Cities assessment requires compliance with at least 80 per cent of some 80 criteria.
Those standards include environmental services, housing, family and child care, and crisis management.
Sharjah was able to meet around half of the conditions even before joining the Healthy Cities programme earlier this month, officials said.
Shaikh Essam Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Adviser at the Ruler’s Office and President of the Steering Committee for Sharjah’s entry into the programme, said the emirate is set to meet at least 80 per cent of benchmarks and be declared the first Healthy City in the region late this year.
Meanwhile, Shaikha Jameela Bint Mohammad Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of Sharjah Healthcare City and Executive Director of Sharjah Healthy City Programme, confirmed Sharjah’s achievement of meeting 70 per cent of the standards and expected the emirate to be declared a Healthy City by early next year.
A report by Sharjah Media Centre (SMC) noted the role of Sharjah’s health and environment laws in promoting residents’ well-being.
Mansour Bin Nasser, Director of the Legal Office of the Ruler of Sharjah, said decades ago Sharjah adopted a range of laws to protect the environment and public health. He added that Sharjah was the “first in the UAE” to pass legislation to prevent environmental degradation in wilderness areas.
Bin Nasser also pointed to the Sharjah Executive Council’s decision to treat medical waste, which was the basis of Wiqaya, the “first project in the region” to reduce pollution from medical waste.
Sharjah also has an independent Environment and Protected Areas Authority, he added.
