"Covid-19 and its Global Impact" a Lecture delivered to the 7th NDC Course Participants

After the outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic and its negative health and economic impact worldwide, countries rushed to develop plans to deal with and contain the consequences by allocating billions of dollars to mitigate and limit the negative effects of the epidemic of economic depression and loss of life on countries and societies. The UAE is one of the countries that contributed to curbing this pandemic by taking preventive measures and precautionary measures aimed at preserving the public health of the community.

Following the NDC Course program, the NDC delivered to the participants of the 7th NDC Course 2019-2020 a lecture titled “The Corona Virus and its Global Impact” on Wednesday, June 10, 2020.

The lecture was delivered by His Excellency Dr. Ali Al-Khoury, Advisor to the Council of Arab Economic Unity and President of the Arab Union for Digital Economy at the League of Arab States, and Dr. Farida Al Hosani, Director of the Department of Communicable Diseases at the Abu Dhabi Public Health Center and the official spokesperson for the health sector in the UAE.

The lecture discussed the negative health and economic impacts of epidemics, their detriment to societies, people and all vital sectors, and their repercussions in terms of lost lives and funds. Then the lecture reflected on the effectiveness of the UAE’s national response and the strategic options implemented to prevent or mitigate any similar crises in the field of public health.

The two lecturers also illustrated that most of the world's governments are heading in the wrong direction due to the disregard for studying infectious diseases within the context of national security.

They also emphasized the urgent need to evaluate information and joint action plans that enable policy makers to define precautionary defence against such threats and to better prepare to address infectious diseases and their monitoring around the world.

The two lecturers also explained to the 7th NDC Course participants how the UAE can learn valuable lessons from the current crisis (Corona pandemic) to better contribute to both regional and global efforts aimed at preventing future harm caused by epidemics and similar public health threats.