ArabSafe campaign overview

ArabSafe is a campaign dedicated to establishing radiation safety culture and ensuring the appropriate use of radiation, in medicine, in Arabic speaking countries. The primary objective of the campaign is to raise awareness among health professionals and to change their practice by providing recommendations and guidance on all aspects of protection from ionising radiation.

Prof. Boudjema Mansouri, MD is Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Algiers, Algeria, and a radiologist at the department of medical imaging at the University Hospital of Bab Oued in Algiers. He is also Chairman of ArabSafe and AFROSAFE.

Following the establishment and development of EuroSafe Imaging, ArabSafe began as an idea adopted by four countries (Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) in 2016. Four leaders from those countries united their efforts in a Task Force to move forwards with ArabSafe initiatives. The official launching of ArabSafe as a campaign within the Pan Arab Association of Radiological Societies (PAARS) was held during the PAARS congress in Morocco in May 2017.

ArabSafe started to expand within the Arab world and reached out to other countries. The current official members are; Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Jordan, Palestine, Bahrain, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen.

ArabSafe is a member of the International Society of Radiology Quality and Safety Alliance (ISRQSA) which is the alliance created by the International Society of Radiology (ISR) to unite radiation safety campaigns.

ArabSafe’s activities

ArabSafe’s activities focus on enhancing compliance with safety standards, policies, procedures and activities that support the implementation of justification and optimisation principles in medical imaging. The programme of ArabSafe is closely linked to the actions of the Bonn Call for Action, published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). ArabSafe added specific actions from the EuroSafe Imaging Call for Action 2018 to foster rapid implementation of radiation protection in medicine in the Arabic communities.

Prof. Dina Husseiny Salama from Cairo is Professor of Radiology and Head of the Radiology Department at the Atomic Energy Authority, Director of radiation safety at the Egyptian Society of Radiology. She is also a Committee Member of the ArabSafe and AFROSAFE campaigns.

Partnerships and joint activities with the IAEA and EuroSafe Imaging have resulted in useful initiatives, such as the proactive actions for implementation of clinical imaging guidelines and the use of iGuide, led by Egypt.

Radiation protection training sessions are currently included as part of the events and conferences organised by scientific societies such as the Pan Arab Association of Radiological Societies (PAARS) and the Maghreb Federation of Radiology (FMR), and at the big national events of the scientific societies and atomic energy authorities in: Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Morocco. This denotes the effective contribution and commitment of these countries.

Networking and Partnerships

ArabSafe is cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Health Organization (WHO), European Society of Radiology, EuroSafe Imaging, International Society of Radiology (ISR), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), African Society of Radiology (ASR), French Society of Radiology (SFR) and AFROSAFE. Multiple joint meetings are organised annually with these organisations to discuss various topics.

The efforts of Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia should be recognised as they are supporting both the ArabSafe and AFROSAFE campaigns, due to their location in both the African and Arabic regions.

ArabSafe steering committee members:
Prof. Boudjema Mansouri (Algeria)
Prof. Dina Husseiny Salama (Egypt)
Ass. Prof. Sarah Hagi (Saudi Arabia)
Prof. Jamila Alsuweidi (United Arab of Emirates)

You can join the ArabSafe campaign at: www.arabsafe.org