National screening programs in Saudi Arabia: Overview, outcomes, and effectiveness

Abstract

In 2016, the government of Saudi Arabia launched the National Transformation Program to ensure the realisation of Kingdom's Vision 2030. One of the strategic objectives is Health Promotion against Health Risks (Public Health System and Health Disasters Management). The new Institutional Transformation and Health Care Model involves actions focusing on diseases prevention and strengthening the primary health care system. Success of the new Health Care Model in Saudi Arabia is only possible when considering assessment of factors influencing national prevalence of health risk factors and early detection of chronic diseases. This notion mandates availability of national screening programs that are able to identify individuals at risk or asymptomatically suffering from chronic diseases. This review is aiming to provide an overall overview of current governmental national screening programs in Saudi Arabia, to assess utilisation and outcomes of screening services in Saudi Arabia and assessment of effectiveness of current national screening programs.