12 May 2025
Your Excellency Dr Jaleela bint Al-Sayed Jawad Hassan,
Distinguished guests,
It is an honour to address this important forum, which reflects the shared commitment of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the League of Arab States, and WHO to equitable access to essential medicines and the strengthening of pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing in our Region.
I commend Bahrain’s leadership and the League of Arab States for incorporating vital provisions in the Bahrain Declaration of the 33rd Arab Summit—aimed at improving healthcare for conflict-affected populations, ensuring access to essential medicines and treatment, and fostering a resilient regional pharmaceutical and vaccine industry.
His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has long championed Arab health―advocating for regional self-reliance in medicine and vaccine production.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Health systems across the Eastern Mediterranean Region face deep challenges, especially in conflict-affected settings. Inequitable access to essential medicines undermines our health security.
Major barriers include shortages of skilled personnel, limited infrastructure, and fragmented regulatory environments. In many countries, the quality and safety of medicines cannot always be guaranteed.
Local production—especially of vaccines, biosimilars, and biologics—remains limited. Research is underfunded, and reliance on imports makes supply chains vulnerable, increases costs, and shifts economic value abroad.
Meanwhile, about half of all essential, low-cost medicines are unavailable in public facilities. Millions of people must pay out-of-pocket or go without treatment. In fragile settings, even basic medications are often out of reach.
To address these urgent challenges, WHO has launched a regional initiative to expand equitable access to medical products, and a strategy to strengthen local vaccine production.
We are supporting Member States by providing technical expertise, improving regulatory systems, modernizing supply chains, and promoting pooled procurement to enhance equity and bargaining power.
Egypt’s drug authority has achieved WHO Maturity Level 3 for vaccines and medicines.
Achieving Maturity Level 3 and above is a pre-requisite for WHO vaccine pre-qualification, which will ensure the sustainability of local vaccine production through access to international markets.
At Maturity Level 4, the Saudi Food & Drug Authority is now recognized among the world’s most advanced national regulatory authorities for medicines and vaccines.
Egypt and Tunisia are participating in the WHO mRNA technology transfer programme. Morocco initiated vaccine manufacturing through a public-private partnership, underscoring a commitment to local vaccine production capacity.
This is significant progress, but much more needs to be done.
The presence of international and regional pharmaceutical manufacturers here today signals growing momentum for public-private partnerships that can drive real change.
I look forward to strengthening our collaboration to ensure that more, better, and safer medicines and vaccines are accessible to everyone, everywhere in our Region.