Statement by the Regional Director at the World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2023 ...
15 November 2023 – Over the last 50 years, health systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region have been transformed, leading to improved health outcomes. Among other factors, the ability to prevent and treat infection successfully and cost-effectively has made an immense contribution to this progress. Child deaths have more than halved-from an under 5 death rate of 99 deaths per 1000 in 1990 to 45 per 1000 in 2021. Strong health systems effectively reduce the spread of communicable diseases and work towards their elimination. Surgery and cancer treatment now can be carried out safely with effective antibiotics to manage ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 15, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
World Diabetes Day 2023: ensuring access to diabetes care
14 November 2023, Cairo, Egypt – World Diabetes Day is being marked across the globe today. As well as raise awareness of diabetes as a global public health issue, the event aims to highlight what must be done, collectively and individually, to enable access to better prevention, diagnosis and management of the condition.
World Diabetes Day this year focuses on access to diabetes care – and chiefly on prevention of type 2 diabetes and diabetes-related complications. To this end, WHO is highlighting the need for equitable access to essential care, medicines and technologies, including raising awareness of ways tha...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 14, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Scaling up infection prevention and control capacities in fragile, conflict-affected and ...
25 Oct 2023, Field visit to the very well-equipped central sterile services department (CSSD) at Zarqa Hospital, Jordan.
The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region is at a critical juncture to capitalize on the momentum from the COVID-19 response. Turning temporarily scaled-up capacity in countries and territories into permanent capacities, agendas and networks will strengthen health security and systems for the future.
Infection prevention and control (IPC) is an area in which the Region made substantial gains during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Region has also historically been vulnerable to the emergence and rapid transmissio...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 13, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO Regional Directors call for immediate action to halt attacks on health ...
Statement by Ms. Laila Baker, UNFPA Arab States Regional Director; Ms. Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa; Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean
More than half of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip are closed. Those still functioning are under massive strain and can only provide very limited life-saving surgeries and intensive care services. Photo credit: WHO
12 November 2023, Cairo/Amman — The regional directors of UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO call for urgent international action to end the ongoing attacks on hospitals in Gaza.
We are horrified at the...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 12, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO loses communication with contacts in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza amid reports of attacks
Many of the wounded have been cared for in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza since early October 2023. Photo from 15 October 2023. Credit: WHO
12 November 2023 — WHO has lost communication with its contacts in Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. As horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks continue to emerge, we assume our contacts joined tens of thousands of displaced people who had sought shelter on the hospital grounds and are fleeing the area. There are reports that some people who fled the hospital have been shot at, wounded and even killed.
Over the past 48 hours, Al-Shifa Hospital--which is the largest...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 12, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Risk of disease spread soars in Gaza as health facilities, water and sanitation systems disrupted
8 November 2023 – As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue to rise due to intensified hostilities, intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious diseases. Some worrying trends are already emerging.
Lack of fuel has led to the shutting down of desalination plants, significantly increasing the risk of bacterial infections like diarrhea spreading as people consume contaminated water. Lack of fuel has also disrupted all solid waste collection, creating an environment conducive to the rapid and widespread proliferation of insects, rodents th...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 8, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Attacks on health care in Gaza Strip unacceptable, says WHO
4 November 2023 — WHO condemns the attacks on 3 November near Al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Quds Hospital, and the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City and North Gaza governorates.
According to reports, at Al-Shifa Hospital, ambulances were evacuating critically injured and sick patients to hospitals in the south of the Gaza Strip when there was an attack at the entrance of the hospital. According to early reports, at least thirteen people were killed and more than 60 injured. The hospital infrastructure and one ambulance sustained damage. This was in addition to an earlier incident that had resulted in damage to another ambulance ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 4, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO Regional Director Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari concludes visit to Lebanon
01 November 2023, Beirut, Lebanon As hostilities escalate on the border between Lebanon and Israel, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari has concluded a visit to Beirut, where he met with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, UN partners, and WHO staff to reinforce health system preparedness for a potential escalation of the conflict. Over the past few weeks, hostilities have expanded beyond the border into southern Lebanon, with 42 people killed, 193 injured and almost 29,000 internally displaced since the start of the cross-border conflict.
“An increased spillover of hostiliti...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 1, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Healthy Cities Conference concludes with Doha Statement
1 November 2023 – The Doha Statement on Healthy Cities was endorsed today, concluding the Eastern Mediterranean Healthy Cities Conference2023 jointly organized by WHO and Ministry of Public Health of Qatar. The Doha Declaration serves as a call for action to advance towards to sustainable urban well-being.
The 2-day event brought together experts and specialists from almost all corners of the world. In endorsing the Doha Statement, participants expressed commitment, within the remit of their responsibilities, to:
ensure that all relevant sectors at the local and national levels consider health and well-being when devel...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 1, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO welcomes decision by Egypt to receive patients from Gaza Strip
1 November 2023 – The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes Egypt’s decision to accept 81 injured and sick people from the Gaza Strip for treatment.
WHO has been working to support the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population in planning and establishing a comprehensive triage, stabilization, and medical evacuation system, by providing ongoing training for health care staff. WHO is also working with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society to ensure that psychological trauma support services are available to patients.
Our experts have visited Al-Arish, visited medical evacuation facilities and met with medical staff an...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 1, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Eastern Mediterranean Region Healthy Cities Conference 2023 opens, with 15 countries participating
31 October 2023, Doha, Qatar – Her Excellency Dr Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health of Qatar, today inaugurated the 3-day Eastern Mediterranean Region Healthy Cities Conference 2023, organized by the Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The opening ceremony was attended by Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, and senior officials and representatives of 15 countries of the Region.
“Healthy Cities: A Multisectoral Approach to Health and Well-being” is the main theme of the conference, at which 43 local and international experts will ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 31, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Dr Sayed Abo Bakar Rasooli, Health Emergencies Officer, and Incident Manager for Herat ...
30 October 2023 – I was resting at home, as I do on weekends, when I felt the powerful earthquake that struck Afghanistan’s Herat province a little after 11:00 on 7 October 2023. It was so unusually strong that everyone in my family instantly jumped up and rushed outside.
I immediately called the regional hospital in Herat city, the largest in the whole western region, where most of the injured would usually be taken for treatment in an emergency. The hospital authorities told me that a few injured people had already been admitted.
I quickly checked if we had enough medicine in our WHO stock and told the stockkeeper ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 30, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Multi-Country Funding Appeal: occupied Palestinian territory and Egypt, Lebanon, Syrian Arab ...
27 October 2023 – Since 7 October 2023, the escalating crisis in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory has caused large numbers of civilian deaths and injuries.
In the Gaza Strip, airstrikes and a lack of medical supplies, food, water and fuel have virtually depleted an already under-resourced health system. Hospitals have been operating far beyond capacity due to rising numbers of patients as well as displaced civilians seeking shelter. The provision of essential health services – from maternal and newborn care to treatment for chronic conditions – has been severely compromised.
The recent escalation of ho...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 27, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
As Gaza ’s health system disintegrates, WHO calls for safe passage of fuel, supplies for ...
24 October 2023 – WHO remains unable to distribute fuel and essential, life-saving health supplies to major hospitals in northern Gaza due to lack of security guarantees. WHO calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire so health supplies and fuel can be delivered safely throughout the Gaza Strip.
Some of the facilities waiting for WHO supplies and fuel in northern Gaza include Al-Shifa hospital, where bed occupancy is already close to 150%. Last night, the Indonesian Hospital was forced to shut down some critical services due to lack of fuel, and is now running with limited functionality. The Turkish Friendship H...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 24, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
