Tobacco control in Qatar from 2002 to 2022: 20 years of progress and challenges.

Tobacco use and exposure has been known as one of the leading causes of premature mortality worldwide. Tobacco control measures have been considered one of the strategies for reducing the burden of NCDs, improving public health, and strengthening the health system's response to threats and pandemics. The State of Qatar has put tobacco control a national public health priority as it has adopted various tobacco control measures that the WHO classified as high-impact measures. This has resulted in achieving tobacco control milestones which led to constant monitoring of tobacco use and the provision of smoking cessation services at all healthcare levels. However, there is still much work to be done to fill the gaps and respond to the emergence of novel tobacco products and market strategies in an effective way. This review highlights the status of tobacco use and exposure in the State of Qatar, and focus on the progress, and challenges in the implementation of tobacco control policies and smoking cessation services between 2002 and 2022.

Qatar steps up to Global Health security: a reflection on the joint external evaluation, 2016.

Since the commencement of the International Health Regulations in 2007, global public health security has been faced with numerous emerging and ongoing events. Moreover, the Joint External Evaluation is a voluntary tool developed in compliance with the Global Health Security Agenda that represents the high responsibility of international health community towards the increased incidence of emerging and re-emerging diseases. Against this background, between 29th May and 2nd June 2016, a team of World Health Organization consultants arrived to the State of Qatar to assess, in collaboration with national experts, the country's capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to threats of public health aspect. They identified areas of strength, weakness, and recommendations for improving national health security of Qatar in anticipation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup event. Qatar has demonstrated a leading role in the region through its commitment to International Health Regulations (2005) and population health. Similarly, the Qatar was the first Arab state and seventh volunteering country globally to undergo the Joint External evaluation process. In this review, we highlighted Qatar's achievements and shortcomings of International Health Regulations' core capacities to inform healthcare professionals and the scientific community about the country's contribution toward global health security.