(Pakistan Point News - 22nd Dec, 2020) DUBAI, 22nd December 2020 (WAM) - Hessa bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development,, stressed the importance of wellbeing as a practical framework to achieve the best results in various fields and accomplish the best and model government services; the Ministry seeks through the national program for happiness and wellbeing to highlight leading wellbeing examples, exchange the best practices at government levels and enhance communication among individuals and different entities in wellbeing sectors.
This was stated on the occasion of the "First Virtual Wellbeing Forum for Best Government Services", the first forum of its kind, which will be organized quarterly to achieve the targeted development results, improve the level of performance and enhance wellbeing as a working method in accordance with the best government practices.
The forum was held in implementation of the Wellbeing Council recommendations chaired by Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid, and the participation of speakers from more than 10 government entities as part of sought efforts to review government efforts, share experiences and benefit from government examples and at the same time continue to harmonize efforts.
The forum was moderated by Ammar Al Muaini, Official Spokesperson of the National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing, and participated by Dr. Manal Taryam, Executive Director of Primary Health Care (PHC) in the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) who gave a presentation about "A Doctor for Every Citizen", to highlight the 24/7 remote healthcare services for each Emirati through smart applications, Dr. Mona Al Kawari, Director of Specialized Heathcare Services at the Ministry of Health and Prevention, who spoke about "Senior Emiratis Wellbeing" initiative which was launched by the Ministry in cooperation with Dubai Health Authority (DHA); and aims for educating the families of senior Emiratis suffering from dementia, in collaboration with a specialized medical team from Al Amal Mental Health Hospital and health centers, clinics and healthcare centers in Dubai Health Authority.
Lieutenant Colonel Saleh Al Kaabi, Deputy Director of Excellence and Leadership Department at the Ministry of Interior, and Amal Al Bulooshi, Director of Project Management Office and Digital Wellbeing Program at the Ministry of Community Development, reviewed features of highlighting digital wellbeing at government levels; they also discussed the objectives of the program, goals of achieving safe and meaningful digital communities, promoting digital wellbeing in the UAE and positive digital citizenship through building digital capacity of different groups of society, raising awareness of the dangers of the digital world, encouraging a balanced and sound approach to the digital world, and encouraging the use and dissemination of positive digital content.
Latifa Al Shehi, Head of Data Future at the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center, gave a presentation entitled "Better Data for A Better Life", in which she addressed the importance of the flow of record data, the collection of field data and the control of its quality, continuous development of data acquisition methods, provision of metadata and statistical analysis to policy-making, decision support and facilitation of the use of statistical data and information. During the presentation, Al-Shehi noted that statistics improve people's wellbeing in accordance with the theme of the UN Statistical Office "Better Data for Better Lives".
Additionally, Dr. Bushra Al Mulla, Executive Director of Community Development Sector at the Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi, reviewed the "Integrated Strategy for Family Wellbeing", noting that the strategy targets the whole family members (parents, children, adolescents, young people, senior Emiratis) to promote cohesion and comprehensive family welfare.
Nouf Al Junaibi, Director of the Emirates Center for Happiness Research, participated in the First Virtual Wellbeing Forum for Best Government Practices through highlighting "How to Understand Concepts of Wellbeing, while, Abdullah Al Kadid Al Mehrezi, Director of statistics at Sharjah Department of Statistics and Community Development, presented a working paper entitled "Sharjah is a healthy city", noting that the title of the paper is one of the preventive programs, which apply health promotion and is based on the principle of improving health aspects, and can be achieved if environmental, social and economic aspects affecting health are improved.
Shoaib Mohammed Al Kaf, Director of the Office of Strategy and Project Management-Ajman Center for Statistics and Competitiveness at Ajman Government, spoke about the "Social Life Index in the Emirate of Ajman", during which he discussed the study that was conducted during 2019-2020 about (7) key indicators. Al Kaf emphasized that the study was part of a series of social studies prepared based on the government's interest in life and social aspects, service sectors as well as cultural and environmental activities directly related to individuals and society in the Emirate of Ajman; the main purpose was to ensure that their needs and requirements are investigated and reflected on government strategies and initiatives and provide a stable and attractive environment for the residents of the emirate.
Ahmed Al Ghandi, an analyst at the Bank’s Supervision Department in the Central Bank, reviewed Emiratis Loan Program, which is based on rescheduling citizens' loans exceeding 50% of salary/income and within a period of more than 4 years.
During the First Virtual Wellbeing Forum for Best Government Practices, the participants reviewed efforts carried out under the Wellbeing Report, the national survey for happiness and wellbeing, and focused on happiness and wellbeing initiatives shared by more than 70 government entities in response to the recommendations and challenges revealed by the survey. At the end of the forum, a Q & A dialogue session was held for the public and audience, all the forum activities were followed through "remote" visual communication technology.
