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Humanitarian access improves quality of polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip
Polio campaign in Gaza Strip reaches around 603 000 children with better access 28 February 2025, Jerusalem/Amman/Geneva – A five-day mass polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip concluded on Wednesday, reaching nearly 603 000 children under 10 years of age with novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) following comprehensive, simultaneous...
WHO and NRC address rising substance use in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
26–28 February 2025, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) in Abu Dhabi, a WHO collaborating centre for substance use, are convening a high-level policy dialogue to strengthen the public health response to substance use in...
WHO Regional Director’s address to the Policy Dialogue to Scale Up the Implementation of the Regional Director’s Flagship Initiative to Strengthen the Public Health Response to Substance Use in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
26 February 2025 Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Partners, We are gathered here today to discuss an extremely grave and urgent matter. A matter that destroys individuals, tears families apart and eviscerates communities. A situation that has only worsened in recent years and―in many corners of our region―is spiralling out of control. Ladies and...
WHO and King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Centre expand life-saving health interventions with new agreements at Riyadh Humanitarian Forum
Agreements strengthen cholera response and malaria prevention in Yemen, boost global polio eradication efforts and support dialysis treatment for Sudanese refugees Riyadh 25 February 2025 – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) agreed a series of new pledges to deliver life-saving...
First ever WHO treaty marks 20 years of saving millions of lives worldwide
Geneva, Switzerland – 25 February 2025 – The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) – one of the most widely embraced UN treaties in history – celebrates the 20-year anniversary of its entry into force this week. The WHO FCTC is the first ever public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO with 183 Parties to the...
Mass polio vaccination campaign to continue in the Gaza Strip
19 February 2025 – The emergency polio outbreak response in the Gaza Strip is continuing, with a mass vaccination campaign scheduled from 22 to 26 February 2025. The novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) will be administered to over 591,000 children under 10 years of age to protect them from polio. This campaign follows the recent detection of...
Dr Hanan Balkhy’s visit to Kuwait
World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy paid an official visit to Kuwait between 9 and 12 February 2025. During the visit, Dr Balkhy met with senior officials and leaders in the health, industrial, investment, humanitarian and civil society sectors. Below are some of the highlights of the...
Address by Dr Hanan Balkhy Regional Director WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region at the inauguration of the poliovirus environmental surveillance diagnostic laboratory, Oman
13 February 2025 Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to join you in inaugurating the Poliovirus Environmental Surveillance Diagnostic Laboratory at the National Polio Laboratory in Muscat, Oman. This state-of-the-art polio surveillance facility marks a significant milestone in our collective fight against polio and reaffirms...
World Epilepsy Day 2025 – a call for improved access to care in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
13 February 2025, Cairo, Egypt – To mark World Epilepsy Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is raising awareness about epilepsy, a common neurological disorder that can affect anyone, at any age. An estimated 4.7 million people with epilepsy live in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. It is among the 3 most frequently encountered neurological...
International Childhood Cancer Day
13 February 2025, Cairo, Egypt – As the world observes International Childhood Cancer Day (15 February), the World Health Organization (WHO) is highlighting the challenges faced by children with cancer in countries affected by conflict and emergencies. In Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen and other parts of...
