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
New GIS Portal for Health Emergencies goes live
24 October 2023, Cairo, Egypt – A regional Geographic Information System (GIS) Portal for Health Emergencies has been developed and launched by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. The GIS Portal is a comprehensive hub, offering an updated geospatial resource to facilitate timely response during health emergencies at the regional and country levels.
ArcGIS StoryMap employs the power of storytelling.
The GIS Portal is an invaluable tool in the domain of public health. Accessing accurate and timely information is crucial, especially in an era of unprecedented challenges to global health. The GIS Portal ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 24, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO health supplies move towards Gaza
21 October 2023, Cairo, Egypt — Four trucks carrying WHO health supplies have started to move towards the Rafah border crossing, on their way to Gaza.
The supplies include trauma medicines and supplies for 1200 people and 235 portable trauma bags for on-the-spot stabilization of injured patients. They also include medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases for 1500 people, and basic essential medicines and health supplies for 300,000 people for three months.
WHO is working with the Egyptian and Palestine Red Crescent societies to ensure the safe passage of these critical supplies and their delivery to hospitals an...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 21, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO workshop reviews project to improve monitoring capacity in humanitarian and fragile settings
Participants during the workshop. Photo credit: WHO/Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment Unit
Cairo, 19 October 2023 – The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean ran a workshop in Alexandria governorate, Egypt, in September 2023 to review implementation of a project, Improving monitoring capacity in humanitarian and fragile settings in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of WHO. The 3-day workshop on this capacity-building project involved WHO office staff and ministry of health focal points from 4 countries and territories. Various WHO headquarters and Regional Office personnel also attended.
...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 19, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO statement on attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital and reported large-scale casualties
18 October 2023 – WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. The hospital was operational, with patients, health and care givers, and internally displaced people sheltering there. Early reports indicate hundreds of fatalities and injuries.
The hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military. The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced.
...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 18, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO Regional Director ’s remarks at the regional press briefing on health emergencies
17 October 2023 – Eleven days ago, the Eastern Mediterranean Region – which was already facing some of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters – was confronted with a new emergency involving Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, which has now reached catastrophic proportions.
Just as concerning is the spilling over of the conflict into other parts of the Region. The escalation of conflict on the border between Israel and Lebanon could potentially destabilize neighbouring countries and threaten the safety, health and well-being of people in the Region as a whole.
Since the conflict escalated, the United ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 16, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO delivers medical supplies to Lebanon as violence in the occupied Palestinian territory ...
Beirut, Lebanon, 15 October 2023 — The World Health Organization (WHO) has expedited the delivery of critical medical supplies to Lebanon in order to be ready to respond to any potential health crisis.
Two shipments arrived in Beirut today from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai, and include enough surgical and trauma medicines and supplies to meet the needs of 800 to 1000 injured patients. The Lebanese Ministry of Health is in the process of identifying the referral hospitals that will receive these vital supplies.
Lebanon’s health system has been crippled as a result of an economic crisis, the Beirut port blast that oc...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 15, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Advancing health security in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
Self-assessment phase of the second round of the Joint External Evaluation in Iraq. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Iraq
15 October 2023, Cairo, Egypt – In the diverse WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, positive results have been yielded by concerted efforts to enhance health security through the monitoring and building of the International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities.
Collaborative initiatives supported by WHO have led to notable advances in the Region’s ability to prevent, prepare for, detect and respond to public health threats. These shared efforts have also increased capacities in various technical areas criti...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 15, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Strengthening public health intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
15 October 2023, Cairo, Egypt – The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region has made great strides in strengthening public health intelligence capabilities in recent years, thanks to joint efforts by WHO and the Region’s countries and territories.
WHO stresses the importance of continuous monitoring and prompt signal detection. Hence, a dedicated team of experts in the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean works tirelessly 24/7 to gather public health intelligence from formal and informal sources. These sources include ministry of health websites, International Health Regulations national focal points, and online scr...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 15, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Revitalizing M & amp;E systems in humanitarian and fragile settings: the success story of ...
Review workshop for the first phase of the project to improve monitoring capacity in humanitarian and fragile settings, September 2023. Photo credit: WHO/Health Emergencies Programme
15 October 2023, Cairo, Egypt – In the complex landscape of fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable (FCV) settings, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) play a crucial role in ensuring response efficiency and effectiveness and in improving health outcomes.
Data collection in these settings presents some unique challenges, however. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
Limited access to conflict-affected areas due to safet...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 15, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Evacuation orders by Israel to hospitals in northern Gaza are a death sentence for the sick and ...
(Source: WHO EMRO News)
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 14, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Lifesaving WHO health supplies land in Egypt for people-in-need in Gaza
14 October 2023, Cairo, Egypt – A plane carrying 78 cubic metres of health supplies from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai has landed in Al-Arish airport in Egypt. The supplies will be delivered to Gaza to meet critical health needs as soon as humanitarian access through the Rafah crossing is established.
Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.
The supplies include enough trauma medicines and health supplies to treat 1200 wou...
Source: WHO EMRO News - October 14, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
