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WHO and FAO drive regional collaboration to advance food safety competencies in the African, Near East and Eastern Mediterranean regions
24 May 2026, Cairo, Egypt – Food crosses borders faster and in greater volumes than at any point in history. The systems meant to keep it safe are struggling to keep pace. As the global food trade expands and supply chains come under growing pressure from conflict, economic instability and climate related disruptions, countries face increasing...
Opening Remarks by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. at the WHO & GLIDE MOU Signing Ceremony
22 MAY 2026 Your Excellency Dr Ahmed Al Sayegh, Minister of Health and Prevention of the United Arab Emirates, Dr Farida Al Hosani, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Institute for Disease Elimination, Ladies and gentlemen, It is a pleasure to join you today for the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding between WHO EMRO and GLIDE. The...
Statement For Regional Director, WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: Poliomyelitis
21 MAY 2026 Chair, Your Excellencies, Director-General, I am addressing you today as the Regional Director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, and a proud gender champion and advocate within the GPEI programme. We are closer to polio eradication than ever, but the final stretch demands exceptional operational discipline and sustained...
Statement For Regional Director, WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem
21 MAY 2026 Chair, Director-General, Excellencies, It is a profound tragedy that this Assembly must once again address the destruction of health and human life in the occupied Palestinian territory. Since October 2023, more than 72,000 people have been killed and 182,000 injured. In 2025 alone, nearly 26,000 additional deaths were reported. Even after...
Keynote Speech by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. WHA79 Side Event – World Health Summit From Shock to Strength: Reimagining Health Resilience in an Age of Converging Crises
20 MAY 2026 Ilona, thank you. Distinguished colleagues, friends, The title of this address asks us to reimagine health resilience as the transition from shock to strength. The challenge is that, from where I stand in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, shock is not the exception. It is a daily reality. And it is no longer a matter of moving from one...
Opening Remarks by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. at the WHA79 Side Event: Healthcare Financing: Bridging Traditional and Innovative Financing for UHC
20 MAY 2026 Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, This is the right moment to bring Awqaf into mainstream health financing discussions because the context has fundamentally shifted and the pressure on health systems is intensifying. The gap to achieve universal health coverage remains substantial estimated at US$200 to 370 billion annually. 4.5 billion...
Opening Remarks by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. WHA79 Side Event: Health Financing Ministerial Roundtable
20 MAY 2026 Excellencies, Honourable Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, Minister of Health, Republic of Ghana Dr Budi G. Sadikin, Minister of Health, Republic of Indonesia Dr Syed Mustafa Kamal, Minister of Health, Pakistan Dr Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, Minister of Health, Sudan Dr Sherin Varkey, Practice Manager for Health, Nutrition and Population for the...
Antimicrobial resistance: no financing, no progress
Most countries have a national action plan – but implementation is lagging. The next phase must focus on costing and budgeting these plans and establishing a clear monitoring and evaluation system. Many countries have regulations on antimicrobial sales but – with the exception of a few countries – they are poorly implemented. We need to improve...
Remarks by Dr Hanan Balkhy, Regional Director WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. WHA79 Side event From Policy to Practice: A National Model for Global Resilience Supply Chains
19 MAY 2026 Your Excellency Dr Fahad Abdulrahman Al-Jalajel, Minister of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Distinguished colleagues and partners, Supply chains may not be the most visible part of global health but when they fail, everything else fails with them. That is why this conversation belongs here, at the World Health Assembly, where...
Remarks by Dr Hanan Balkhy, Regional Director WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. At the WHA79 Side event on Healthy Longevity
19 MAY 2026 Your Excellency, Mansoor bin Ebrahim bin Saad Al Mahmoud, Minister of Public Health of Qatar, Excellencies, Ministers, distinguished colleagues, We have made remarkable progress in helping people live longer. The harder challenge and the one that should define this decade is helping people live well. Globally, people spend nearly ten...
