UNICEF13 November – A comprehensive outbreak response continues to roll out across the Middle East following confirmation of the polio outbreak in the Syrian Arab Republic. Seven countries and territories are holding mass polio vaccination campaigns with further extensive campaigns planned for December targeting 22 million children; in a joint...

UNICEF A week after the Middle East declared a polio emergency in the region, mass vaccination against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases under way Geneva, New York, 8 November – The largest-ever consolidated immunization response in the Middle East is under way to stop a polio outbreak, aiming to vaccinate over 20 million children in...

4 November, 2013 – A dedicated supplement of key scientific studies on the HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was published today in the journal of Sexually Transmitted Infections. The studies provide critical evidence from the field on the status of the epidemic in the MENA region and showcase the progress of HIV...

Members of the WHO Regional Committee attended the opening of the 60th session in Muscat, Oman28 October 2013 - The first day of RC60 begins today, 28 October 2013, in Muscat, Oman, in the presence of Ministers of Health, their Representatives and delegates of Member States of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, representatives of national,...

Chamber orchestra of Al Nour Wal Amal Association play at WHO’s Regional Office to celebrate the International Day for Disaster Reduction24 October 2013 – The Kuwait Conference Hall at WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean was transformed into a concert hall as the Chamber Orchestra of Al Nour Wal Amal Association charmed the...

23 October 2013 – The Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal (EMHJ) is pleased to announce that it has introduced a web-based submission and peer review system (Editorial Manager), which is in operation as of 20 October, 2013. We are now inviting all authors to submit their manuscripts through this system. Editorial Manager is a well-established system and is...

Dr Balladelli, WHO Regional Emergency Coordinator, with Marah, a Syrian refugee, at a refugee settlement in Tripoli, Lebanon14 October 2013 - Since the outbreak of the crisis, Lebanon has seen its population rise by nearly one third. For over two years Syria’s neighbours have struggled to cope with the protracted influx of Syrian refugees....

Geography student, Jinan, suffers from severe burns on her arms, legs, neck and chest after a massive explosion near her home in Damascus. She is currently being treated at al-Mouwassat hospital. Photo credit: WHO/Syria17 September 2013 – "I’ll be home in a couple of minutes’, she said on the phone. A moment later, I heard the explosion and I knew...

Sudan has made tremendous progress over the last two decades, however, the country still has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the Region and the life time risk of death for a mother in Sudan is 1 in 32. 1 September 2013 – on 28 August Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health together with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the...

WHO staff and volunteers carry boxes of medicines and supplies while they cross flooded areas to reach a health facility in Aroma locality, Kassala, East Sudan. A. Alhassan/WHO21 August 2013 – Floods affecting parts of the Eastern Mediterranean Region have killed hundreds of people and left thousands more homeless. As the monsoon season begins,...