JEDDAH The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Coordination with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Chair of the Seventh Islamic Health Ministers Conference,, will organize an emergency video conference meeting of the OIC steering ministerial committee on health, on 9 April 2020. The meeting comes in the light of the unprecedented challenges for the member states in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Secretary General Dr Yousef AlOthaimeen explained, pointing out that committee members will discuss the member states’ efforts to tackle the challenges sparked by the COVID-19 outbreak. He further stated that the purpose of the meeting is to share and update information on the novel coronavirus, consult on the pandemic and develop strategies to slow down and contain the spread of the virus in the member states. The following countries are the members of the steering committee: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Maldives, Pakistan, Mauritania, Chad, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Sudan. The committee also includes in its structure the following OIC institutions: COMSTECH, SESRIC,the IsDB and ISESCO. It also partners with WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, the International Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the GAVI Alliance. For the record, the UAE presides over the seventh session of the Islamic Conference of Health Ministers.—PR
