NNA - Caretaker Minister of Public Health, Dr. Firas Al-Abiad, held a lengthy meeting in the French capital, Paris, with French Health Minister Frédéric Valletoux, which focused on the framework agreement signed last June between the Lebanese and French Ministries of Health, which stipulates the organization of cooperation projects and joint programs in a way that ensures their feasibility and the fulfillment of their objectives.

The French Minister affirmed commitment to the cooperation agreement, stressing that “the French Ministry of Health and its affiliated institutions will provide all the support required to the Ministry of Public Health to implement the agreed-upon joint projects.”

For his part, Minister Abiad invited Minister Valletoux to visit Lebanon next summer on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the signing of the framework agreement and the launch of the National Cancer Plan, which the French Cancer Foundation INCA and the Curie Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment helped approve.

Minister Abiad thanked his French counterpart for the French support to develop Lebanon’s health system.

Cooperation between the Ministries of Health in Lebanon and France includes more than ten joint projects and programs, including the National Cancer Plan, primary health care development, mechanizing the health sector, and strengthening systems and health technology assessment (HTA Health Technology Assessment) to improve the conditions for using medicine and ensuring its effectiveness, in addition to previously existing programs, most notably hospital accreditation, blood safety, mental health, and organ donation.

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