Your Excellency Dr Faeqa Bint Saeed Alsaleh, Minister of Health
Your Excellency Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Acting United Nations Resident Coordinator Representative Dr Hashim Hussein
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros

My dear colleagues, brothers, and sisters,

I joined WHO in 2010 because I believed in the mission and vision of the Organization and wanted to play a role to make the world a better, healthier place. I am a humanitarian, and I believe that all people are equal and should have access to all basic human rights, including access to health care. 

During my career with WHO, I supported the organization in its efforts to respond to several public health emergencies, and strengthen health systems to advance the realization of universal health coverage. Throughout this time, I saw the difference that WHO made – by working with governments and partners – to the lives to the people who need it most. This is why we do what we do — to save lives, protect health, and preserve the well-being of all people, everywhere. 

Today, I am honoured to represent the Organization as WHO Representative in the Kingdom of Bahrain. I thank you all for the trust and confidence that you have placed on me.

Working closely with Her Excellency Dr Faeqa Bint Saeed Alsaleh, Minister of Health, and under the leadership of Dr Tedros and Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, I pledge to do my utmost to serve both WHO and the Kingdom of Bahrain to fulfill our collective missions of ensuring the health and well-being of all people in the country, and also to promote Bahrain as a model for other countries, both within the Region and beyond.

Our focus will be to support the excellent ongoing response to the pandemic while also supporting Bahrain to achieve its health goals.

For COVID-19, we will work to ensure that our global and regional recommendations are tailored to the Bahrain context, as well as provide first hand technical expertise and guidance. We will also work to document lessons learnt and best practices, focusing on innovation used in the response, and vaccinations.

Overall, WHO’s strategy for its country office in Bahrain aims to advance the health and well-being of all people based on the Organization’s global and regional strategy. This involves working closely with all national counterparts and partners, and utilizing all assets, in line with the mission outlined in GPW 13, focusing on the priorities set for the Kingdom of Bahrain.

To achieve this, WHO will focus on 3 key areas: 

• Establish a flagship destination for effective and efficient advice and best practices to advance health and well-being in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Middle East, and globally.
• Identify specific areas of advancing health where the Kingdom of Bahrain as an incubator for success can export and share with other countries.
• Collaborate with other United Nations agencies, ministries, and government institutions to advance the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and that health is integrated in all policies.

I am sure that with the support of the Regional office and headquarters, the excellent national expertise, and our dedicated UN partners on the ground, we will succeed.

Thank you.