UN population fund office opens in Oman

Muscat: The preservation of women's and families' health is an important matter for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the opening of the first sub-regional UNFPA office in Oman yesterday would help the UN organisation cooperate well with the GCC states, hopes a senior official of the organisation.

"UNFPA considers the cooperation with the GCC ministries of health as an important and strategic matter for the well-being of these countries' citizens, especially on the preservation of women's and families' health," Dr Thoraya Ahmad Obaid, UNFPA's Executive Director at the Regional Office in Jordan, said during the opening of the sub-regional office yesterday in Muscat.

UNFPA is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. The agency supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/Aids, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Dr Thoraya hoped for successful cooperation between Oman and UNFPA and thanked Sultan Qaboos of Oman for hosting, at the expense of the government, the first UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for the GCC Countries.

She termed Oman's decision to host the office as the clear commitment to population and development issues.

The UNFPA sub-regional office was formally opened by Dr Ali Bin Mohammad Mousa, Oman's Minister of Health.