August 17, 2021:  The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has been awarded the Global Conformity Mark (GC-Mark) accreditation in the management and quality of health statistics, achieving the platinum category. With this accreditation, MoHAP has become the first institution globally to obtain such a prestigious award.

The global achievement is yet another testament to the Ministry's commitment to applying the global specs for the management and quality of health data as a course of action.

This comes as part of the Ministry's strenuous endeavors to become a sustainable and innovative institution according to the best-accredited practices, which contributes to enhancing healthcare services and achieving the highest competitive indicators globally.

Following a rigorous assessment conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of DQS (one of the leading certification bodies for management systems worldwide) and IQNet Association assessors, HE Dr. Hussain Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary for the Public Health Sector, received the GC-Mark Certificate at Ministry’s headquarters in Dubai, in the presence of Dr. Alia Zaid Harbi, Director of the Statistics and Research Center at the Ministry.

Improving quality practices
Commending the relentless efforts of the Research and Statistics Center team to achieve the best global standards, Dr. Hussain Abdul Rahman Al Rand said, 'This new accreditation represents a catalyst for us to continue the success and establish a distinguished work environment, which strengthens the gains achieved by the health sector and consolidates the competitiveness of the health facilities in the country. Such awards would also contribute to renewing confidence in the UAE's outstanding healthcare services and the proactive strategies it adopts to continue the improvement of performance indicators.

Strengthening data governance 
Al Rand pointed to the importance of the statistical data quality in developing the planning for healthcare services to be aligned with future standards by developing the institutional performance, enhancing data governance to improve the sustainability of services, providing the necessary resources and infrastructure for data management, and carrying out statistical studies and research in accordance with the approved international principles and standards.
The challenges that coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic have neither deterred nor discouraged us to continue businesses with the same efficiency and distinction, rather, we continued to implement the highest international standards and achieve sustainability in health services, Al Rand noted.

Supporting health planning strategies
For her part, Dr. Alia Harbi, Director of the Statistics and Research Center at the Ministry, said the GC-Mark Certification in data quality management culminates the efforts of the Ministry in the field of studies, research, health data management and the application of international best practices.
She pointed out that data play a fundamental role in shaping the future vision and measuring performance indicators to improve health services and support health planning strategies at the state level. 

She continued to say data also contribute to enhancing cooperation among the relevant authorities to establish effective partnerships for data analysis that contribute to making sound decisions, in a manner that serves comprehensive development plans and ensures the optimal distribution of health resources and services to enhance community health.