Day 1, Wednesday 15 October 2025 – Regular sessions of RC72

Session 1

(a) Opening remarks by the Chair of RC71

(b) Welcoming remarks from the Regional Director

(c) Election of Officers

Chair

2 Vice-Chairs

(d) Adoption of the provisional Agenda

(e) Appointment of drafting committee

Session 2

Governance matters

Reports of the twenty-second and twenty-third meetings of the Programme Subcommittee of the Regional Committee

Membership of WHO bodies and committees

Engagement with non-State actors: applications submitted by entities for accreditation to attend meetings of the Regional Committee

Place and date of future sessions of the Regional Committee

Session 3

World Health Assembly and Executive Board – programme and budget matters

Update on financing and implementation of the programme budget, including the implementation of the WHO Transformation Agenda

Discussion

Break

Session 4: Special update

Emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Discussion

Session 5: Special update

Polio eradication in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, including the report of the thirteenth meeting of the Regional Subcommittee for Polio Eradication and Outbreaks

Discussion

Lunch break

Session 6:

Opening ceremony

Address by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

Keynote speaker: H.E. Dr Hisham Saad Aljadhey, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, Saudi Food and Drug Authority

Keynote speaker: H.E. Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, Prime Minister's focal person on polio eradication and former member of the Senate of Pakistan

Video

Introduction to the Annual Report of the Regional Director 2024/2025 by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean

Discussions

Dinner including group photo and awards distribution 

Thursday 16 October 2025 – Regular sessions of RC72

Session 1: Technical paper 1

Zero-dose children: addressing inequity in routine immunization coverage in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Discussion

Session 2: Technical paper 2

Health systems recovery in fragile and conflict-affected situations in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Discussion

Break

Session 3: Technical paper 3

Palliative care in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: from challenges to solutions

Discussion

Session 4: Cairo Call to Action

A ministerial appeal for “Advancing Equity and Innovation in Breast Cancer”

Session 5: Technical paper 4

Strengthening national laboratory biosafety and biosecurity policies and frameworks in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Discussion

Lunch break

Lunch break

Session 6: Technical paper 5

Developing a regional operational framework for climate change and health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Discussion

Session 7: Side event

Monitoring Regional Committee resolutions: addressing challenges in implementing long-standing resolutions

Break

Closed meeting: Fifth meeting of the High-level Ministerial Group on the Control of Tobacco and Emerging Tobacco and Nicotine Products in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Closed meeting: Foundation for the State of Kuwait Prize for the Control of Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Closed meeting: Award of the Down Syndrome Research Prize

Friday 17 October 2025 – Regular sessions of RC72

Session 1

Resolutions and decisions of regional interest adopted by the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly and the Executive Board at its 156th and 157th sessions

Review of the draft provisional agenda of the 158th session of the WHO Executive Board

Discussion

Session 2

Special update

Session 3

Statement from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region Staff Association (EMRSA)

Session 4

Closing session

Wrap-up refreshments served at Pergola