Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of the Federal National Council, FNC, on Saturday, received Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, WHO, and his accompanying delegation here.

The meeting saw discussions on ways to boost co-operation between the FNC and the WHO in the fields of disease prevention and promotion of health awareness around the world.

Dr. Al Qubaisi praised the role of the WHO in enabling people across the world to build a better future. She stressed the importance of co-operation between the UAE and the international organisation on providing assistance to poor communities that cannot provide medicines for many diseases such as cholera and polio.

She said the UAE has attached great importance to healthcare, and pointed out that the annual growth in hospitals and health centres in the UAE reached 7.9 percent. The expenditure on healthcare is projected to reach AED70.6 billion by 2019, compared to AED49.9 billion in 2014.

Dr. Al Qubaisi and Dr. Ghebreyesus reviewed the UAE's key humanitarian role in supporting the WHO's operations in different countries, including Yemen.

The director-general lauded the UAE's efforts in providing healthcare services to various parts of the world, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, skin colour and faith.