WHO Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy concludes her first visit to Pakistan
Islamabad, 7 May, 2024 – WHO's Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr Hanan Balkhy, has concluded her inaugural visit to Pakistan. The comprehensive five-day mission spanned Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore, and included high-level meetings with government officials, visits to WHO-supported health facilities, and participation in the subnational polio vaccination campaign.
This was also Dr Balkhy’s first visit as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s high-level polio delegation, led by the Chair of the Polio Oversight Board and with representatives from the United States Centers for Disease Co...
Source: WHO EMRO News - May 7, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Rafah incursion would substantially increase mortality and morbidity and further weaken an ...
3 May 2024 – WHO is deeply concerned that a full-scale military operation in Rafah could lead to a bloodbath. More than 1.2 million people are currently sheltering in the area, many unable to move anywhere else.
A new wave of displacement would exacerbate overcrowding, further limiting access to food, water, health and sanitation services, leading to increased disease outbreaks, worsening levels of hunger, and additional loss of lives.
Only 33% of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 30% of primary health care centers are functional in some capacity amid repeated attacks and shortages of vital medical supplies, fuel, an...
Source: WHO EMRO News - May 3, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
50 years of EPI ’s extraordinary impact on global health
24 April 2024, Cairo, Egypt – World Immunization Week this year coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). Such has been the programme’s remarkable impact on global health that the “E” in EPI today stands for “Essential”.
Since 1974, this WHO initiative has inspired countries to use vaccines to do everything humanly possible to safeguard the health and well-being of all children everywhere.
Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, emphasized the importance of equitable access to vaccines: “EPI has been instrumental in saving mi...
Source: WHO EMRO News - May 1, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Opening statement by Director of Programme Management at the World Immunization Week press ...
Distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, and members of the media,
We warmly welcome you to this press conference to mark World Immunization Week. This year, the week coincides with a remarkable milestone – 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization, or EPI.
When launched in 1974, this WHO initiative started out with a limited series of vaccines against just six childhood diseases. Today, EPI offers protection against 13 vaccine-preventable diseases, reflecting the initiative’s incredible progress.
Here in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, more than 25 million lives have been saved thanks to the power of v...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 29, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Devising therapeutic patient education on diabetes to improve quality of life
24 April 2024, Cairo, Egypt – A Therapeutic Patient Education Expert Workshop held on 21–22 April made significant advances towards developing a regional curriculum for therapeutic patient education (TPE) on diabetes management.
A diverse group of regional and global experts came together at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Cairo, Egypt, to engage in rigorous review sessions, working groups, and plenary discussions. These exchanges were critical in refining the curriculum components.
Participants included endocrinologists, dieticians, health education specialists and public health experts, as ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 28, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO Regional Director visits Islamic Republic of Iran to discuss health challenges and ...
25 April 2024, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran – Dr Hanan Balkhy concluded her first official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran as the new WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, which took place on 12–15 April. She met with officials and partners to discuss WHO’s work on the ground and how to strengthen collaborations and strategic initiatives to meet health needs.
The Regional Director’s visit began in the historic city of Isfahan, where she visited Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and met with Chancellor Dr Shahin Shirani, who also heads the Isfahan Academy of Medical Sciences. She also ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 25, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Be ONE VOICE against tobacco: call for video messages
Join our ONE VOICE campaign in the runup to World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2024. To take part, record a short video message that speaks to your peers about the sneaky ways that tobacco companies try to get young people hooked on nicotine.
You can submit a video if you’re a young person aged 13–35 years and live in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The deadline to share your video with us is [10 May 2024].
We’ll select 100 videos to use in our World No Tobacco Day 2024 campaign. This year, our focus is all about protecting young people from tobacco industry tactics to promote their products.
All young people ca...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 8, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Visiting Lebanon, WHO Regional Director affirms support to address multiple health system challenges
7 April 2024, Beirut, Lebanon – WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy concluded a 2-day visit to Beirut, Lebanon, last week at a time when hostilities are escalating on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.
The visit that took place on 2 and 3 April represented the third country visit on Dr Balkhy’s official tour of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region since taking office in February 2024.
“Lebanon’s health system faces multiple challenges, from hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees to hostilities in the south targeting health workers, facilities and ambulances,” said Dr Balkhy. ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 7, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Six months of war leave Al-Shifa hospital in ruins, WHO mission reports
6 April 2024, Jerusalem, Cairo, Geneva - A WHO-led multi-agency mission accessed Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 5 April to conduct a preliminary assessment of the extent of destruction and identify needs to guide future efforts to restore the facility. The highly complex mission was conducted in close partnership with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), United Nations Department for Safety and Security (UNDSS), and in collaboration with the acting Hospital Director.
Prior to the mission, WHO’s efforts to reach ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 7, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Meet the heroes powering our emergency response: Dr Ahmed Al Soofi Head of WHO suboffice in Al ...
Episode 5
Dr Ahmed Al Soofi Head of WHO suboffice in Al Hudaydah, YemenMy journey with WHO began in 2007, following years of service with Yemen’s health ministry and a Belgian nongovernmental organization dedicated to assisting people with disabilities.
Al-Hudaydah, nestled by the Red Sea, presents unique challenges. It has experienced years of conflict and continues to suffer consistent instability. This has escalated in the past few months, as the impact of the war in the occupied Palestinian territory has spilled over into Yemen. In fact, only the other day, when I was leaving the office, there was an airstrike clos...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 7, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Meet the heroes powering our emergency response
Episode 5
Dr Ahmed Al Soofi Head of WHO suboffice in Al Hudaydah, YemenMy journey with WHO began in 2007, following years of service with Yemen’s health ministry and a Belgian nongovernmental organization dedicated to assisting people with disabilities.
Al-Hudaydah, nestled by the Red Sea, presents unique challenges. It has experienced years of conflict and continues to suffer consistent instability. This has escalated in the past few months, as the impact of the war in the occupied Palestinian territory has spilled over into Yemen. In fact, only the other day, when I was leaving the office, there was an airstrike clos...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 7, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
UN agencies launch joint programme to support Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon in climate change response
4 April 2024, Cairo, Egypt – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) today launched a joint programme to support the health system responses of the governments of Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to climate change adaptation and risk reduction over the coming two years.
The programme, operating under the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund, aims to strengthen the resilience of health systems and migrant populations to climate change and disaster risks by incorporating an inclusive human mobility lens into natio...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 4, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
World Health Day 2024 highlights the right to health
7 April 2024, Cairo, Egypt – “My health, my right”, the theme for World Health Day 2024, is a reminder that health is a fundamental right that must be ensured for every human being.
Health as a human right is recognized in the WHO Constitution, and the right to health has been central to WHO’s identity and mandate since the start.
Health is also recognized as a human right in the constitution of at least 140 countries, including 20 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. All WHO Member States have ratified at least one treaty that recognizes the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and ment...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 3, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO commends Iraq ’s world-first in polio transition
1 April 2024 – As of January 2024, Iraq has achieved the polio transition process in full. It is the first country among the polio transition priority countries to achieve this remarkable feat.
Polio transition involves repurposing polio assets – knowledge, network and infrastructure – to strengthen the broader public health functions of a country within the overall context of strengthening the national health system. These wider functions include immunization, vaccine-preventable diseases surveillance, and emergency preparedness and response.
To safeguard polio essential functions through sustainable resource...
Source: WHO EMRO News - April 1, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
WHO mourns loss of team member killed in Syria
Statement by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean
On behalf of the World Health Organization, it is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic loss of one of our dedicated team members, Engineer Emad Shehab, in Deir-ez-Zor City, Syria, who lost his life in the early hours of Tuesday morning when his building was struck during a series of airstrikes across the Governorate. We extend our deepest condolences to Eng. Shehab’s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.
Eng. Shehab, 42, served as a WHO focal point for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in Deir-ez-Zor ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - March 26, 2024 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
