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Infographic on cholera kits Infographic on cholera kits

Key publications

Global defence against the infected disease threat - Chapter on cholera

Cholera outbreak: assessing the outbreak response and improving preparedness 

Global cholera publications

Courses

openWHO: Introduction to cholera

openWHO: Revised cholera kits and calculation tool

Technical guidance

Revised cholera kits

Prevention and control of cholera outbreaks: WHO policy and recommendations

Oral cholera vaccines

Meeting reports

Subregional meeting on scaling up acute watery diarrhoea/cholera preparedness and response - Beirut, Lebanon 8–9 July 2017

Consultative meeting on a strategic approach for cholera preparedness and response in the Eastern Mediterranean Region - Amman, Jordan 17–19 November 2015

Consultative meeting on developing a strategic framework for cholera prevention and control in the Eastern Mediterranean Region - Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt 29–31 October 2013

 
Noncommunicable diseases PDF Print

Regional framework for action

The Third United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases will be held in 2018 to review progress made in implementing the 2011 Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases. Ahead of this, sustained technical support continues to be crucial in guiding countries in articulating comprehensive national noncommunicable diseases responses and implementing the recommended strategic priority interventions in the four areas of the regional framework for action (governance, surveillance, prevention and health care). 

Despite a clear roadmap and a renewed interest in mainstreaming noncommunicable diseases as part of the SDG agenda, many countries of the Region are still experiencing challenges in implementing key strategic interventions and demonstrating significant improvement in the 10 global progress indicators that will be used to report on progress at the third High-level Meeting in 2018.

There remain persistent barriers impeding progress in the Region. These include a lack of multisectoral coordination and engagement, especially of non-health sectors, the paucity of financial and human resources, and weak national capacities for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. Political instability, protracted crises and wars further compound the situation, limiting strategic planning and the scaling-up of interventions. 

Against this backdrop, WHO intensified its technical support in 2016, providing and developing guidance in the four areas of the regional framework to enable countries to implement the key recommended measures before the upcoming global review.

Governance

Throughout 2016, support has been provided to countries in developing multisectoral noncommunicable disease action plans, incorporating noncommunicable diseases into national development plans, including United Nations development assistance and cooperation framework plans, and setting national noncommunicable diseases targets. Integrated support across the three levels of WHO has been provided in selected “fast-track” countries (Islamic Republic of Iran and Oman in the Region) and the country support mechanism of the United Nations Interagency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases has been strengthened, providing enhanced coordinated support to countries, building investment cases for noncommunicable diseases and advocating for effective inclusion of noncommunicable diseases into development plans.

WHO continues to promote collaboration with sectors beyond health and between government and non-state actors. Building on the first regional meeting on strengthening partnership with civil society organizations for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, held in 2015, capacity-building training was organized in collaboration with the NCD Alliance, and efforts are under way to facilitate the creation of a regional noncommunicable diseases alliance of civil society organizations.

Prevention and control of risk factors

In 2016, tobacco control activities focused on supporting implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at the national level. Countries are facing several challenges in moving forward their tobacco control agendas due to a number of factors, including higher health priorities for decision-makers, such as the emergency situations in the Region, tobacco industry interference to undermine tobacco control efforts and produce new products that are not covered under current regulations, and a lack of understanding at the legislative level of the requirements of tobacco control legislation. 

In preparation for the Seventh session of the FCTC Conference of Parties (COP7), a meeting was arranged jointly with the WHO FCTC Secretariat to allow regional Parties the chance to review the documentation and prepare for their negotiations during COP7. At COP7, held in New Delhi, India, in November 2016, regional Parties led three decisions on noncommunicable diseases, tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and waterpipe tobacco. 

A meeting was held jointly with the WHO African Region on the implementation of large graphic health warnings and plain packaging. In association with the meeting, a database of copyright-free graphic health warnings was developed with the WHO FCTC Secretariat for the use of countries in the Region. Understanding of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products was increased through high-level communication with Ministers of Health and through specific country activities, such as video conferences with experts and targeted seminars. 

Technical support was provided to countries on a range of tobacco control areas, including national programme capacity-building, health cost research, needs assessment, training media personnel, combating tobacco growing, legislation and taxation. To support this work, a number of information resources were developed on the tobacco industry, second-hand smoke, and graphic health warnings and plain packaging (in collaboration with University of Waterloo, Canada), while WHO publications on waterpipe tobacco smoking and the earmarking of tobacco taxes were translated into Arabic.

Regionally, progress in implementing WHO recommendations on controlling unhealthy food in children has been slow, despite clear commitment by countries, while expenditure on promoting energy-dense diets has grown considerably in recent years. The foods most frequently advertised are soft drinks, savory snacks, confectionery and fast food. The advertising of foods and beverages is largely undertaken on television and during the period between 14:00 and 21:00, when children are highly exposed. Only 19% of the countries of the Region have implemented WHO recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children. 

Nutrition data collection and analysis are a challenge in the Region. Policy-making and accountability require effective nutrition surveillance and a monitoring and evaluation system for effective implementation. Integrating nutrition within the health system is another challenge in most countries, where most people suffer from the double burden of malnutrition and have limited access to health services, including disease prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, which contributes to increased inequalities. The security situation and political unrest are other key difficulties facing many countries, and while the problem of malnutrition is huge, financial resources are limited. 

Developing a roadmap for action to promote healthy diet and address nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases risk factors (salt, sugar and fat reduction intake) continues to be a priority. In 2016, Morocco, Somalia and Sudan joined most other countries of the Region in developing post-2015 national action plans to implement the recommendations of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN-2). A nutrient profiling model was developed and field tested in seven countries. This will help countries to improve food labelling and promote healthy food.

Throughout 2016, technical support and capacity-building was provided to countries in growth monitoring, food-based dietary guidelines, obesity control and prevention, and promoting healthy diet. Many countries have developed nutrition surveillance systems and are generating regular data for most indicators. WHO will continue to monitor and evaluate the implementation of policy guidance on salt, fat and sugar reduction strategies, and finalize the regional policy on obesity and diabetes prevention.

Surveillance, monitoring and evaluation

Building on efforts begun in 2015, support was provided to countries to strengthen noncommunicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases risk factor surveillance systems. This included implementation of the Global Tobacco Surveillance System in several countries of the Region, including the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (Islamic Republic of Iran, Morocco and Oman) and the integration of tobacco questions into ongoing national level surveys (Egypt, Iraq Morocco, Oman and Sudan). A number of countries implemented the WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS) (Iraq, Morocco, Oman and Sudan), while others completed planning for national noncommunicable diseases surveys (Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Somalia and United Arab Emirates). 

Support was also provided to countries to strengthen cancer surveillance in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Oman took steps to update its cancer registry system using the most recent software (CanReg5) and following international standards (ICD-10), while a cancer registry assessment workshop was held in Iraq on improving cancer registration, focusing on the three major regions of the country, and another workshop was conducted in Libya on establishing a functional population-based cancer registry. 

During 2016, countries participated in the country capacity survey to assess progress made on noncommunicable diseases. The information collected through the survey covers public health infrastructure, partnerships and multisectoral collaboration for noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, the status of noncommunicable diseases-relevant policies, strategies and action plans, health information systems, monitoring, surveillance and surveys for noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, and the capacity for noncommunicable diseases early detection, treatment and care within the health system. The results will assist in planning technical support to address noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors. The information will also be used for the indicators that Member States have agreed to monitor and will be held accountable for at the United Nations General Assembly and World Health Assembly in 2018.

Health care

Several countries are undergoing major health sector reform, with significant implications in terms of the content of the essential service delivery package, models of care and/or health care financing to expand coverage and enhance financial protection. In view of these reforms, strategic guidance continues to be given to countries in reorienting and strengthening health systems to address noncommunicable diseases, prioritizing cost-effective interventions with a focus on the integration and management of noncommunicable diseases in primary health care in both stable and emergency settings. 

Drawing on work done in 2014–2015, and based on the regional framework on strengthening the integration and management of noncommunicable diseases in primary health care in the Region, country missions were organized to review the status of noncommunicable diseases in primary health care (Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia). In addition, continued attention was given to countries in high-grade emergencies, including Iraq, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, to support noncommunicable diseases readiness and health system resilience assessments, the procurement of noncommunicable diseases medicines and tailored training of primary health care providers, while also developing normative guidance in this area. A milestone was the finalization of a noncommunicable diseases emergency kit to be piloted in Iraq and Syrian Arab Republic in 2017.

Progress was made in the area of cancer control with the development of regional guidance on the early detection of five priority cancers in the Region and the first draft of a regional framework on cancer prevention and control. As part of an IARC/WHO regional partnership for scaling up cancer surveillance and research, support was provided to eight countries on cancer registries and research. Another positive development in 2016 was the designation of two new WHO Collaborating Centres in the Region: the WHO Collaborating Centre on Cancer Education, Training and Research at the King Hussein Cancer Centre in Jordan and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Noncommunicable Diseases and Gastrointestinal Cancers at the Digestive Diseases Research Institute in Islamic Republic of Iran.

Mental health 

The area of mental health and substance abuse is the focus of increasing attention, especially following the adoption by the 62nd session of the Regional Committee of the regional framework to scale up action on mental health in the Region, operationalizing a comprehensive action plan for mental health (2013–2020). A major impetus to raising the profile of mental health and substance abuse in the Region has been the number of countries experiencing complex emergency situations, increasing the need and demand for mental health and psychosocial support services. Globally, milestones have included a joint WHO and World Bank event on mental health and development and the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in April 2016 and the inclusion of dementia in the World Innovation Summit for Health in Qatar. 

A key achievement in many countries was the initiation and consolidation of the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) programme to bridge the treatment gap for priority mental health problems through integration in primary health care. Draft guidance on the integration of mental health in primary health care is being finalized for 2017. A second regional leadership course in mental health was conducted in collaboration with the American University in Cairo and a regional capacity-building workshop for mid-level managers on substance use policy development and service delivery was developed and conducted in collaboration with the National Rehabilitation Centre in Abu Dhabi. To support the work in this area, atlases were published on the resources and capacities available for mental health and substance abuse in countries of the Region. The Regional Office is also contributing to the revision and field trial of different versions of Chapter VI of International Classification of Disease, Eleventh Revision (ICD-11) and to the finalization of the treatment standards for substance use disorders being developed by WHO and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Support was provided for the review, development and updating of mental health strategies and legislation in many countries, in accordance with the indicators and targets agreed upon as part of the comprehensive action plan for mental health (2013–2020) and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Autism and dementia plans were developed in several countries, while others were supported to develop and strengthen national suicide prevention plans. Additionally, a school mental health package was developed and is being piloted in countries of the Region. Support was also given for the provision of mental health and psychosocial support in Iraq, Libya, Yemen and countries affected by the Syrian Arab Republic crisis, in coordination and collaboration with United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations, national stakeholders and academic institutions. This led to the development and piloting of a regional mental health and psychosocial support capacity-building course. 

Mental health continues to have a low political and public health profile, and the stigma attached to it cuts across all aspects of mental health care, impacting on service development, delivery and utilization. Mental health suffers from chronic under-funding, a lack of research and data to inform planning and service development, and a lack of specialist staff and services, while the skills of general health workers to deliver mental health care remain limited. 

In view of ongoing resource constraints, and in line with the Organizational reform process and regional strategic priorities, WHO will deepen its collaboration with regional and global partners to implement the provisions of the regional framework for action in countries of the Region and the comprehensive action plan for mental health (2013–2020). Support will continue to be given to countries in reviewing and developing their national policies, strategies and programmes on mental health and substance abuse, and for scaling up mental health and psychosocial support in countries experiencing humanitarian crises. 

 
Noncommunicable diseases PDF Print

Regional framework for action

In September 2018, the United Nations General Assembly staged the third high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases to review progress made in implementing the 2011 Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases. According to WHO’s Noncommunicable Disease Progress Monitor 2017, despite some promising trends, national progress in implementing key strategic interventions under the four areas (governance, surveillance, prevention and health care) of the regional framework for action has been limited and remains insufficient for countries to reach noncommunicable disease target 3.4 of the SDGs by 2030. Obstacles to progress in the Region include a lack of multisectoral coordination and engagement, especially of non-health sectors, weak national public health and health system capacities for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, and interference by industry impeding the implementation of the “best-buys” and other recommended interventions, including raising taxation on tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Governance

During 2017, WHO continued to support countries in developing multisectoral noncommunicable disease action plans, incorporating noncommunicable diseases into national development plans and United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) plans, and setting up national noncommunicable disease targets. Eight out of 22 countries (36.4%) in the Region now have an operational multisectoral national policy, strategy and/or action plan that integrates noncommunicable diseases and their shared risk factors, while 16 (72.7%) have incorporated noncommunicable diseases into their national development agendas. Furthermore, building on work to mobilize and strengthen the capacity of regional civil society organizations for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, WHO promoted the creation of a regional noncommunicable disease alliance.

Prevention and control of risk factors

In 2017, WHO continued to provide technical support to scale up implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in countries. Collaboration continued with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the implementation of the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) in countries of the Region, and with the WHO FCTC Secretariat to strengthen tobacco control. This included a regional planning workshop on the WHO FCTC 2030 initiative to strengthen WHO FCTC implementation towards achieving the SDGs, a regional meeting to support full execution of the decisions of the seventh session of the Conference of Parties (COP7), and a multisectoral workshop to promote the entry into force in the Region of the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. Additionally, WHO provided technical support to the League of Arab States to develop model tobacco control legislation.

Following the 2016 Gulf Cooperation Council agreement on implementing tobacco excise tax, several member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council have started implementation, and regional training on implementing successful tobacco taxation policies was provided by WHO.

To support national tobacco control efforts, information resources were produced to highlight key findings of the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2017, raise awareness of tobacco industry activities in countries and promote the SimSmoke tobacco control policy simulation. A resource on graphic health warnings was finalized in collaboration with the University of Waterloo, Canada.

Further collaboration with international organizations is needed for better tobacco control implementation, as is strengthening national capacity to counter tobacco industry tactics. Developing a regional action plan for tobacco control is a priority in order to move forward on tobacco control and fully meet WHO FCTC commitments.

The Region continues to experience an epidemiological and nutritional transition that is contributing to high rates of overweight and obesity, with half of all adult women (50.1%) and more than two in five adult men (43.8%) estimated to be overweight or obese in 2014. The evolution of overweight and obesity is closely linked to physical inactivity and unhealthy diet, with the Region having the highest prevalence of physical inactivity in adults (31%)[TB1] , and higher levels among women (37%) than men (26%).

In this context, promoting healthy diet has been identified as a key strategic and cost-effective intervention in the regional framework for action for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. In 2017, the adoption of national policies to reduce population salt/sodium consumption was fully achieved in eight countries (36.4% of countries in the Region), and partially achieved in six (27.3%). Additionally, the adoption of national policies to limit saturated fatty acids and virtually eliminate industrially produced trans fatty acids in the food supply was fully achieved in 12 countries (54.5%). Furthermore, WHO’s recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children were adopted in seven countries (31.8%) and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council added “sin” taxes on sweetened beverages and soft drinks (100% and 50% on energy drinks and soft drinks, respectively).

Twelve countries (54.5%) implemented at least one national public awareness and motivational communication for physical activity, including mass-media campaigns for physical activity behavioural change. This included high-income countries such as Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nutrition data collection and analysis remain a challenge in the Region. Effective policy-making and accountability require effective nutrition surveillance and monitoring and evaluation systems. Developing a roadmap for action to address obesity is another priority for the Region, and has been advanced through dissemination of the recently published WHO document Proposed policy priorities for preventing obesity and diabetes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (2017).

Surveillance, monitoring and evaluation

In 2017, 12 Member States set time-bound national targets for surveillance, monitoring and evaluation based on WHO guidance. Countries continued to strengthen noncommunicable disease risk factor surveillance systems by implementing the WHO STEPwise approach to noncommunicable disease surveillance (STEPS) and the Global Tobacco Surveillance System with its components, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) and Tobacco Questions for Surveys.

Morocco and Oman were able to complete data collection for national-level STEPS, with Oman integrating the GATS questionnaire into its national STEPS survey successfully, while Egypt, Lebanon and Sudan completed data analysis for their national-level STEPS surveys. Qatar and Somalia made progress in the development of a protocol for national-level STEPS implementation in early 2018, while United Arab Emirates integrated its national-level STEPS questionnaire into the World Health Survey and embarked on the data collection phase.

Pakistan, under a donor funding mechanism, was selected to implement the GATS repeat survey in 2018, while Saudi Arabia continued its work on GATS implementation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Palestine and Tunisia completed the data analysis for their GYTS repeat surveys. In collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic and United Arab Emirates received training on CanReg5 software, an open source tool to input, store, check and analyse cancer registry data following international standards (ICD-10).

All countries in the Region successfully completed the noncommunicable disease country capacity survey for 2017. The survey is a periodic assessment of national capacity for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, and is designed to monitor progress towards implementation of the United Nations Political Declaration and the regional framework for action on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. The survey covers: health system infrastructure; funding; policies, plans and strategies; surveillance; primary health care; and partnerships and multilateral collaboration. The information collected will be used to assess country progress at the United Nations General Assembly and the World Health Assembly in 2018. Updated regional status and country profiles based on country capacity survey results for 2017 were developed to assist countries in identifying gaps, challenges and the way forward.

Health care

In 2017, in line with the SDGs and universal health coverage agenda, WHO scaled up its support to countries in the Region in reorienting health services for better management of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases and their risk factors, with a focus on primary health care, including in crises and emergencies. In particular, support was provided for the development and implementation of national cancer control programmes. A milestone was reached in October with the endorsement by the 64th session of the Regional Committee of a regional framework for action on cancer prevention and control.

Guidance and country support was also given for the management of noncommunicable disease care in crises and emergencies. A notable achievement was the deployment in the Syrian Arab Republic of a new WHO emergency kit for the management of noncommunicable diseases during emergencies. The emergency health kit includes medical equipment and 22 essential medicines for chronic diseases such as hypertension, cardiac diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and selected mental health and neurological conditions. The kit also includes noncommunicable disease management protocols for health care workers, based on WHO standards. The new kit will now be available in the WHO catalogue for all countries in need. Expansion of its deployment is expected soon in other countries facing emergencies, such as Iraq and Yemen.

Mental health

Following the endorsement by the Regional Committee in 2015 of the regional framework to scale up action on mental health, the area of mental health and substance abuse is beginning to gain traction. In order to monitor and report on global and regional targets, data were collected and compiled using the Mental Health Atlas questionnaire. Since 2015, a regional course in leadership in mental health has been developed and hosted annually by the American University in Cairo to strengthen institutional capacity in countries.

To bridge the treatment gap for mental health problems through integration within primary health care, the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) was initiated or scaled up in many countries in 2017, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia. WHO support was provided to the Islamic Republic of Iran to review the national programme for suicide prevention, to Afghanistan and Tunisia in developing suicide prevention programmes, to Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates to develop their national autism plans, to Qatar and Tunisia for the development of dementia plans, and to Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sudan to review and draft mental health legislation and regulations. To promote mental health and prevent mental disorders, a school mental health package was developed that is being piloted in Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Pakistan and United Arab Emirates, and is being used in other WHO regions.

During 2017, technical support continued to be provided to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support for populations in Iraq, Libya and Yemen, and those affected by the Syrian crisis, in coordination and collaboration with United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations, national stakeholders and academic institutions, with a focus on needs assessment, capacity-building and enhancing access to services. This led to the development of a regional mental health and psychosocial support capacity-building course, piloted in Saudi Arabia, the development of a curriculum for enhancing the capacity of general nurses for provision of mental health care, piloted in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the field testing of a psychosocial intervention package to be delivered through non-specialized health workers in emergencies, including the piloting of an electronic version in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syrian Arab Republic.

In collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), technical support was provided to set up opium substitution treatment services in Egypt, Kuwait and Palestine, expand services in Lebanon, Morocco and United Arab Emirates, and review national strategies in Iraq and Jordan. Furthermore, the annual regional capacity-building workshop for mid-level managers on substance use policy development and service delivery was held and WHO is continuing to contribute to the field trials of different versions of chapter 6 of the International Classification of Disease, Eleventh Revision (ICD-11) and treatment and prevention standards for substance use disorders.

Despite this progress, challenges remain, with mental health continuing to have a low political and public health profile. The stigma attached to mental health leads to discrimination in resource allocation and service development, delivery and utilization, with institutional care remaining the dominant model of care in most countries, thereby compounding under-resourcing with inefficiency. To overcome these challenges, WHO will continue to strengthen its collaboration with regional and global partners to implement the provisions of the regional framework to scale up action on mental health and enhance public mental health literacy through the development of a mental health literacy package and targeted campaigns, building on the momentum generated by the World Health Day 2017 Depression: let’s talk campaign.


 
Tailored antimicrobial resistance programmes to support behavioural change in the Region PDF Print

25 February 2018 – The WHO Regional Office, in collaboration with the Health Care Quality Management and Patient Safety Department of the Ministry of Health in Qatar, will launch a behavioural change pilot project to change behaviours driving the rise in antimicrobial resistance.  

A meeting of approximately 60 participants from Qatar representing various ministries concerned with antimicrobial resistance will be held on 25 February 2018 in Doha, Qatar.

The meeting will be followed by a 4-day training workshop from 26 February to 1 March 2018 for 25 participants from different departments of the Ministry of Health to build skills and knowledge on how to develop behavioral change interventions following a methodology known as tailoring antimicrobial resistance programmes developed by the regional antimicrobial reistance programme. The training workshop will equip participants with knowledge of how to collect evidence on behaviours that are driving antimicrobial resistance that can be used to build concept-specific interventions to change these behaviours.  

The pilot project is in line with the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance that calls for countries to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication and training to optimize the use of antimicrobial agents. 

The methodology is based on the idea that behavioural change programmes must be based on an understanding of social and behaviuoral contexts. Knowledge alone does not change behaviour which is influenced by a number of factors, many of which are cultural and social. Therefore, mass campaigns with generic messages are often ineffective in leading behavioural change. The methodology is based on rapid assessment methods, focusing on understanding local behavioural drivers and identifying local solutions for change. The methodology has been modified from existing behavioural change guides to fit the regional context. The programme will initially be conducted for a period of 6 months. 

The results of the the project will inform Qatar on behavioural change programming and the WHO Regional Office will continue to provide technical support to Qatar to implement the project. 

 
Art competition PDF Print

School children between the ages of 8 and 18 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region were encouraged to submit drawings or paintings around the 2012 World Health Day theme of aging and health. More than 1000 children from 14 countries in the Region entered the competition, and prizes were awarded to winners in 5 age groups  (8–9, 10–11, 12–13, 14–15 and 16–18).

 


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