A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in the field of cancer and zoonotic diseases control was signed, Monday in Rabat, between the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This agreement was initialed by the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Khaled Ait Taleb, and the IAEA Director-General, Rafael Mariano Grossi.
In a speech read on his behalf, Ait Taleb stressed that the signing of this memorandum comes at the right time with the ongoing reforms in the health sector engaged in Morocco to address the challenges it is facing.
The crisis that the world has experienced created a collective awareness of the importance of investing in a resilient health system that is better equipped in terms of material and human resources and is capable of meeting the needs of the population and health emergencies, he said.
The minister recalled that Morocco joined in 2020, IAEA’s ZODIAC Initiative (Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action) which aims to integrate all actions against zoonotic diseases, in accordance with the “One Health” approach.
As part of the objectives of this project, Morocco has created a national consortium of ZODIAC laboratories, involving the National Institute of Hygiene, the laboratory of the National Office of Food Safety and the laboratory of the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research, Ait Taleb said.
