Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar chaired the Global Council on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Good Health and Well-Being at the World Governments Summit 2025 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from February 11 to 13.
The summit, themed ‘Shaping Future Governments’, was attended by world leaders, including President of Colombia Gustavo Petro Urrego, President of Seychelles Wavel Ramkalawan, President of Poland Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister of Kuwait His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and Prime Minister of Kurdistan Masrour Barzani.
Established in 2018, the Global Council on SDGs serves as a collaborative platform to drive innovative projects, monitor progress, and promote global action towards implementing the 17 SDGs.
The council also strengthens international cooperation in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a focus on post-pandemic recovery. The third cohort of the council brought together ministers chairing each SDG, including Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Le Thanh Long; Minister of Climate Change, Environment and Energy of Maldives Thoriq Ibrahim; Minister of Information, Communications and Technology, Eswatini Savannah Maziya; and Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Green and Blue Economy, Barbados Hon Adrian R Forde.
Minister of State for Government and Future Development, UAE Ohood Khalfan Al Roumi presided as President of the Global Council on SDGs.
Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham also participated in several high-level discussions, including the XDGs 2045 Ministerial Roundtable; SDGs in Action Forum; and Global Health Forum.
At the XDGs 2045 Ministerial Roundtable, the minister joined discussions on long-term global development strategies beyond 2030, focusing on collaboration between governments, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, and international organisations.
During the SDGs in Action Forum, he was a panellist in the session ‘Innovative Strategies for Universal Health Coverage and Reducing Health Inequalities’.
He highlighted key healthcare challenges, including workforce capacity, rising costs, and the impact of an aging population, while sharing Brunei’s digital health initiatives such as the BruHealth national screening programme.
At the Global Health Forum, he spoke in the session ‘From Vision to Reality’, where he discussed Brunei’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) in diabetic retinopathy and breast cancer screening. He emphasised AI’s role in addressing workforce shortages and enhancing healthcare resilience. While in the UAE, the minister also met Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Health / Dubai Academic Health Cooperation and President of Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) Dr Amer Ahmad Sharif, to explore potential collaborations in strengthening national and global healthcare systems. – Lyna Mohamad
