HMC and International Academy for Design & Health host design and Health Middle East 2013

New insights into designing healthcare facilities and urban infrastructure were explored at the Design and Health Middle East 2013 International Symposium and Exhibition hosted jointly in Doha by the International Academy for Design and Health (IADH) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

The conference brought together design and health professionals and experts from around the world.

The conference explores how the design of urban and healthcare infrastructure can support our health, well-being and quality of life, and help prevent lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity that have become leading causes of death and disability in the Middle East over the past two decades,” said Mr. John Lambert-Smith, Executive Director of Health Facility Planning and Design at HMC, who gave the welcome address at the conference.

The International Academy for Design and Health believes strongly that the built environment has a significant impact on human health and is committed to bringing this understanding to the design and health professions in an effort to reduce the prevalence of lifestyle diseases,” said Dr. Alan Dilani, Founder and Chief Executive of the IADH. Based in Sweden, the IADH is a non-profit organization that works closely with an international network of government organizations, leading universities and commercial organizations to promote human health, well-being and quality of life through environmental design.

Dr. Dilani explained, “The World Health Organization has identified that the health ‘arena’, including priority settings and frequently used spaces such as the workplace, schools, hospitals, correctional institutions, commercial offices, public spaces within our towns and cities, and indeed our homes, should be at the center of health promotion activities in the 21st century. During the 66th meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2011, the socio-economic challenge of non-communicable diseases was discussed for the first time.”

Speaking at the conference, Dr. Hanan Al Kuwari, PhD, Managing Director of HMC said, “Qatar is a small country with great ambitions; we aspire to be a world leader in education, healthcare and research. Our population has tripled over the last ten years and will keep increasing. As Qatar is becoming increasingly urbanized, the incidence of trauma and lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic diseases and cancer has also increased, as well as chronic respiratory diseases that are associated to smoking and the increasing pollution of the environment.”

Qatar faces challenges that are similar to those of other countries across the world: ensuring equal access to care and satisfying the high expectations around quality of care. As the main provider of healthcare in Qatar, HMC is investing heavily in developing existing and new facilities according to our philosophy of healing environments, and we and other healthcare and academic partners have come together in an Academic Health System initiative where we work together on ensuring that our patients have the best possible quality healthcare,” Dr. Al Kuwari said.

Well-designed healthcare facilities make a critical contribution to the process of healing and rehabilitation. We are developing our facilities at HMC according to a masterplan that supports the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Health Strategy. Our goal is the creation of stress-free, peaceful and healthy environments. This embraces not only our clinical facilities but also education and research facilities that will support our transformation into an Academic Health System,” said Mr. Lambert-Smith.

The program also featured presentations from Dr. Ray Pentecost, President of the IADH, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health in South Africa, and other experts and officials from the Middle East, Northern Ireland, USA, Australia, the UK, Sweden, Canada, and HMC’s local Academic Health System partners Sidra Medical and Research Center and Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar.