WHO EMRO News http://www.emro.who.int/ Thu, 28 Mar 2024 21:37:15 GMT FeedCreator 1.8.0-dev (info@mypapit.net) WHO mourns loss of team member killed in Syria http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/who-mourns-loss-of-team-member-killed-in-syria.html Statement by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean

Engineer Shehab from Syria26 March 2024– 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 since 2022. He was a highly skilled professional who brought unwavering commitment and expertise to his role. His contributions to improving WASH conditions in health facilities, particularly his pivotal role in renovating the sewage system at Al Assad Public Hospital, were invaluable. His work on water quality testing in Deir-ez-Zor – located directly along the Euphrates River – was a critical part of outbreak detection and early response, including the cholera outbreak in Syria. Colleagues remember Eng. Shehab as tremendously dedicated to this work – spending hours in the field, often under challenging circumstances, and even occasionally hand-carrying water samples to central laboratories when necessary to ensure timely testing.

Eng. Shehab earned his bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering from Aleppo University. Prior to working with WHO, he had extensive experience in engineering and project management working with

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Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:00:47 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/who-mourns-loss-of-team-member-killed-in-syria.html
Yemen conflict enters 10th year with over 17 million people in need of health aid http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/yemen-conflict-enters-10th-year-with-over-17-million-people-in-need-of-health-aid.html Malnutrition in Yemen

The country faces an alarmingly high malnutrition rate, with nearly 2.4 million children aged under 5 years suffering from stunting.

25 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – The conflict in Yemen enters its 10th year today, with over half of the country’s population in desperate need of aid and an estimated 17.8 million people requiring health assistance, 50% of them children.

“It’s almost as if ongoing conflicts have become an accepted part of the everyday realities of life in the region. It’s important to step back and remember that hungry children, disease outbreaks, hospitals shutting down … these are not to be normalized,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

“The conflict has destroyed everything … many health facilities have shut down, epidemics have spread, the diseases that felt like a part of the past have returned, such as polio and cholera,” said Dr Eman Tajeldeen, who works at the Central Laboratory in Aden. “We love Yemen, and we would love to see Yemen back.”

Children are particularly vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio, measles, pertussis and diphtheria, while also suffering from alarmingly high malnutrition rates. Nearly half of all children under five, nearly 2.4 million children, suffer from moderate to severe stunting.

“After 9 years of conflict, deteriorating health outcomes and destroyed infrastructure, emergency health and humanitarian needs control the lives of millions of Yemenis and limit their ability to achieve inclusive sustainable development,” said Dr Arturo Pesigan, WHO Representative

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Mon, 25 Mar 2024 09:21:39 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/yemen-conflict-enters-10th-year-with-over-17-million-people-in-need-of-health-aid.html
Opening remarks by Dr Hanan Hassan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, ... http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/opening-remarks-by-dr-hanan-hassan-balkhy-who-regional-director-for-the-eastern-mediterranean-on-the-occasion-of-celebrating-the-world-tuberculosis-day.html 24 March 2024

Thank you for gathering here today on World Tuberculosis Day. As one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world, TB remains a pressing challenge to all WHO regions. In September 2023, the United Nations General Assembly convened its second high-level meeting on tuberculosis, at which Member States renewed their commitments to advance global, regional and national efforts towards ending the TB epidemic by endorsing a political declaration on TB with ambitious targets for the next five years.

Despite the setbacks of the COVID-19 emergency, countries and territories of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region have fully recovered in terms of the pandemic’s impacts on TB prevention and care. The number of notified people in the Region diagnosed with TB is 579 thousand cases. This exceeds the 2019 level. The treatment success rates in the Region are among the highest of all six WHO regions. We are finding more people with TB, and we are treating most of them successfully. WHO support to its Member States has led to improvements in the quality of services, treatment outcomes and heightened quality of life for affected people. But our Region remains particularly slow in one important area: tuberculosis preventive treatment.

Currently only 5% of eligible contacts of TB patients and 8% of people living with HIV in the Region receive the preventive treatment.

The Region’s performance in this area is a cause for concern, as the low levels of access to preventive treatment put many people at unnecessary risk of developing TB disease.

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Sun, 24 Mar 2024 09:45:09 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/opening-remarks-by-dr-hanan-hassan-balkhy-who-regional-director-for-the-eastern-mediterranean-on-the-occasion-of-celebrating-the-world-tuberculosis-day.html
World Tuberculosis Day 2024: many more TB cases could be prevented http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/world-tuberculosis-day-2024-many-more-tb-cases-could-be-prevented.html 24 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – Tuberculosis (TB) is still one of the world’s deadliest diseases, although it is both preventable and curable. Today, on World Tuberculosis Day, WHO and partners worldwide unite to renew the commitment to end the global TB pandemic.

Every year, 10 million people globally fall ill with TB. An infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs but can attack any part of the body. Despite being preventable and curable, TB kills 1.5 million people each year – making it the world’s top infectious killer. TB is also the leading cause of death among people living with HIV and a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance globally. In 2022, in our Region, 856 000 people fell ill with TB and 84 000 died of TB. which accounted for 8% and 7% of the global incident cases and deaths.

In order to stop TB infection from progressing to active TB disease, we need preventive treatment

Yet uptake of TB preventive treatment in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region is still low. In 2022, only 5% of eligible contacts of TB patients and 8% of people living with HIV received this treatment. This is largely due to lack of awareness among the public and health professionals, inadequate local funding, ongoing conflicts, limited screening, and stigma associated with TB. For these reasons, among others, many people in the Region unnecessarily develop the disease.

Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, set out the way ahead: “Despite daunting challenges, we are committed to increase and expand

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Sat, 23 Mar 2024 13:22:55 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/world-tuberculosis-day-2024-many-more-tb-cases-could-be-prevented.html
Regional Director statement on visit to Al-Arish and Rafah, Egypt http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/regional-director-statement-on-visit-to-al-arish-and-rafah-egypt.html 22 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – I recently visited Al-Arish Governorate and the Rafah border crossing point in Egypt, where I met with the Deputy Governor of North Sinai Major General El-Ghandoor, senior officials from the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) and Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and other health partners working on the health response to the Gaza crisis.

Since the escalation of hostilities in the occupied Palestinian territory, Egypt has been playing a key role in facilitating the delivery of aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing and providing free medical care and treatment for evacuated patients.

In Rafah, I saw aid trucks loaded and ready to cross the border into Gaza. I was told by ERC colleagues that 1500 of their trucks are ready to cross and an additional 1000 trucks are ready for inspection. However, they also described the long and complicated inspection process and ambiguous rejection criteria set by Israeli authorities that continues to impede the flow of aid into Gaza.

I visited the ERC warehouse set up specifically for humanitarian aid received from Egypt and 43 countries for the Gaza crisis response. These valuable donations that range from basic items like water purification vessels and disinfectants, to sophisticated medical equipment like neonatal incubators can help alleviate the suffering of Gazans from malnutrition, disease outbreaks and a significant of lack of clean water. Sadly, though, I was astonished to see large amounts of rejected items despite the dire need.

As Gaza’s health system faces severe shortages and patients lose

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Thu, 21 Mar 2024 22:10:19 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/regional-director-statement-on-visit-to-al-arish-and-rafah-egypt.html
Unprecedented number of Syrians in need of aid after 13 years of war http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/unprecedented-number-of-syrians-in-need-of-aid-after-13-years-of-war.html Syrian girl

16 MARCH 2024, CAIRO, EGYPT – Thirteen years of conflict have left 16.7 million people requiring humanitarian aid and 15 million people 65% of the population – in need of health assistance in Syria. This is the largest number of people in need of humanitarian aid since the conflict began in 2011.

“There are currently more Syrians in need of aid than any other time since the war began,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “An entire generation has been born into war, knowing nothing but insecurity and deprivation, and facing shock after repeated shock. We need to exert all efforts to protect and strengthen Syria’s health system so that all people across the country have access to affordable and accessible health care services.”

The earthquake that affected Türkiye and Syria in February 2023 added another layer of suffering to people ravaged by years of war. Since the escalation of hostilities in the occupied Palestinian territory in October 2023, the security situation in Syria has become increasingly unstable, particularly in the northeast and northwest regions.

“I have been displaced four times,” said Muna Ahmad, originally from Hama in west-central Syria. “I just want this war to end and go back home.”

Today, only 65% of hospitals and 62% of primary healthcare centres across Syria are fully operational. The toll on mental health is huge, with levels of depression and stress-related disorders increasing by an estimated 200% and 600% respectively. A

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Sat, 16 Mar 2024 14:24:52 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/unprecedented-number-of-syrians-in-need-of-aid-after-13-years-of-war.html
Regional Director statement on Sudan http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/regional-director-statement-on-sudan.html RD statement on Sudan visit

15 March 2024 I have just returned from Sudan, my first mission to an emergency country in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region since I took office 5 weeks ago.

I saw first-hand the devastation that decades of fragility, and nearly a year of brutal war, have wreaked on the country. “We lost many things this year that we will never be able to get back,” one Sudanese woman told me.

I also learned about the immense challenges facing our humanitarian response as we work to reach all people in Sudan with life-saving aid.

Sudan is currently facing the world’s largest displacement crisis. Almost 8.5 million people (including almost 2 million who have fled to neighbouring countries) have been forcibly displaced and face uncertainty, vulnerability, and immense challenges.

Most internally displaced people are living among host communities, reflecting the sense of generosity and solidarity that the Sudanese people are known for.

But this situation has resulted in soaring demands for food, safe water and sanitation, and access to health care. And attacks on health care during the escalation of hostilities have left more than 25% of all hospitals nonfunctional and the main national laboratory occupied by fighters.

In Port Sudan, health facilities are receiving between 2 and 4 times the number of patients they are used to managing. Strengthening the resilience of Sudan’s health system includes ensuring that spillover from neighbouring states can be absorbed without a negative impact on the host communities

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Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:25:57 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/regional-director-statement-on-sudan.html
Sudan to respond to new emergence of variant poliovirus in Red Sea State http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/sudan-to-respond-to-new-emergence-of-variant-poliovirus-in-red-sea-state.html A child is given the oral polio vaccine during a polio vaccination campaign, Sudan, November 2020. Photo credit: WHO/WHO SudanA child is given the oral polio vaccine during a polio vaccination campaign, Sudan, November 2020. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Sudan11 March 2024, Port Sudan, Sudan – Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) will launch a polio vaccination campaign in April 2024 in response to a new emergence of variant poliovirus type 2 reported in January 2024. It was detected in six wastewater samples collected from September 2023 to January 2024 in the Port Sudan locality, Red Sea State.

The FMOH, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), has completed field investigations and a risk assessment to determine the extent of the virus circulation. Preparations for a polio vaccination campaign in April 2024 in Red Sea, Kassala, Gedaref, River Nile, Northern, White Nile, Blue Nile and Sennar states are under way, with a differentiated approach for the rest of the states as conditions allow.

This new detection comes 14 months after Sudan declared an outbreak of variant poliovirus type 2, from an unrelated emergence of the virus, which was detected in a 4-year-old child in West Darfur in October 2022. In response to that outbreak, the FMOH, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and

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Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:24:32 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/sudan-to-respond-to-new-emergence-of-variant-poliovirus-in-red-sea-state.html
Childhood cancer control: pushing for progress in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/childhood-cancer-control-pushing-for-progress-in-who-eastern-mediterranean-region.html Childhood cancer control: pushing for progress in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region

11 March 2024 – Globally, more than 400 000 children and adolescents aged 0–19 years are diagnosed with cancer every year. Latest Global Cancer Observatory estimates for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region show that there were about 36 000 new cases of paediatric cancers and 16 500 deaths in 2022.

Experts from every country and territory of the Region, international partners, and WHO colleagues from headquarters and various regional offices came together last week to accelerate action to fight childhood cancer. The occasion was a 2-day workshop on “Empowering progress: strengthening implementation of the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region”.

It is 5 years since WHO launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC), with the technical and financial support of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The workshop chiefly aimed to take stock of lessons learned, enrich understanding, and combine efforts to prioritize childhood cancer across the Region. By implementing the GICC, countries and territories can substantially contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4, to reduce premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by one third by 2030.

Childhood cancer is adding to the growing disease burden among children worldwide, and actual numbers of cases and deaths are significantly higher than estimates. Unlike cancer in adulthood, the factors that contribute to childhood cancer are poorly understood, and only a small fraction

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Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:34:05 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/childhood-cancer-control-pushing-for-progress-in-who-eastern-mediterranean-region.html
WHO and Japan sign US$ 8 million agreement to support patients from Gaza Strip in Egypt http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/who-and-japan-sign-us-8-million-agreement-to-support-patients-from-gaza-strip-in-egypt.html WHO and Japan sign US$ 8 million agreement to support patients from Gaza Strip in Egypt

11 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – A US$ 8 million grant agreement signed yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Japan will provide essential support for critically ill patients evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt for medical treatment. The agreement was signed by His Excellency Mr OKA Hiroshi, Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, and Dr Nima Abid, WHO Representative in Egypt. It was witnessed by Her Excellency Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, Egypt; Dr Hossam Abdelghaffar, Assistant to the Minister of Health and Population for Institutional Reform, Egypt; and Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Under this agreement, WHO will work with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population to enhance the Egyptian health system’s readiness to accommodate medical evacuees. This includes ensuring that referral hospitals are adequately equipped with the necessary medicines, medical supplies and equipment, and will involve capacity-building for health staff to provide life-saving emergency care.

“WHO is extremely grateful for the support provided by Egypt in accommodating critically ill patients from the Gaza Strip for treatment. Now, with this generous funding from the Government of Japan – a long-standing donor to WHO – we will be better able to support Egypt in ensuring continued, quality health care to critically ill and injured patients from the

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Mon, 11 Mar 2024 09:40:25 GMT http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/who-and-japan-sign-us-8-million-agreement-to-support-patients-from-gaza-strip-in-egypt.html