Burden of Diseases in Saudi Arabia: Strategies and Challenges

Running head: BURDEN OF DISEASES
BURDEN OF DISEASES
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BURDEN OF DISEASES
The Saudi Arabian Kingdom has in the past few years integrated a large improvement in
its health system. This improvement was possible because of various involvements. The Ministry
of Health of KSA is researching on strategies to reform the heath system with the collaboration
to understand the burden of caused by disease and its risk factors it induces (Memish et al.,
2014).
In the KSA, it has been seen after a survey that the country was succeeding in the field of
reducing the burden of infectious disease and its prevalence. The matter of to need an instant
intervention was only the road accidents and the depression cases. But there is still a challenge
left for KSA which is the burden of chronic disease, due to its rising population. Even with the
growing issue of road accidents and non-communicable disease, the KSA is a country with high
risk of infectious disease outbreak as it has the high number of pilgrims to visit during Hajj
period. So the country requires effective resources and measures to control and prevent the
outbreak. The risk increases due to the climate and the condition during the Hajj season. The
infection by a virus named HCoV-EMC is a reason to be alert about the outbreak.
As the condition of KSA is changing, the Ministry of Health is working on adaption
strategies and operation to provide time to time solutions for the outbreaks to reduce the risk.
The strategies include financial support, medical facilities and insurances. In the year of 1980, a
vaccination program was made compulsory and is followed till date that has reduced the
mortality rate of children of age below 5 years. The ministry along with the IHME conducts a
tracking system for health status monitoring in Saudi Arabia (Robert & Zamzami, 2014).