RIO DE JANEIRO — Saudi Minister of Health Fahd Al-Jalajel participated in the Group of Twenty (G20) joint finance and health ministerial meeting in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. He also attended the high-level meeting on "One Health," held alongside the ministerial meetings. Speaking on the occasion, Al-Jalajel said that the Kingdom remains a central hub for addressing global challenges. It is also committed to providing solutions and sharing its expertise within international efforts to combat pandemics and emerging health risks. The minister said the Kingdom has demonstrated leadership in adopting the One Health approach, which is evident in its ongoing efforts to advance this agenda across international platforms and initiatives. He highlighted the Kingdom's active role in safeguarding global health, notably by containing Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and limiting its zoonotic transmission, which helped mitigate its public-health impact worldwide and prevented it from becoming a pandemic. The Kingdom continues this commitment within its comprehensive vision for One Health, Al-Jalajel noted. The minister emphasized the importance of international collaboration to combat antimicrobial resistance, highlighting the need to move from the declaration made at a United Nations meeting to the effective implementation of measures against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Al-Jalajel reiterated the call for participation in the Fourth Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, scheduled to be held in Jeddah on November 15-16. He said that the conference will provide an opportunity to enhance coordination and collaborative efforts on the priorities of this phenomenon, which has become a global challenge, in line with the goals of the G20.
