11 November 2012 – The annual celebration of World Diabetes Day on 14 November is a reminder that diabetes remains one of the most serious and most prevalent chronic health problems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, threatening lives and overall development in several countries in the Region. Risk factors for diabetes are unhealthy eating habits...

24 October 2012 – Polio eradication partners around the world are marking the first World Polio Day since India was removed from the list of countries with active transmission of wild poliovirus. No polio cases have been reported from India since January 2011. This development has opened up an historic opportunity to complete polio eradication in the...

The impact of urbanization on population health, health equity and the environment are key concerns for national and municipal authorities21 October 2012 – Urban health challenges across the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region are acute and increasingly complex. Unplanned urban growth puts millions of people living in urban slums and disadvantaged...

This year, World Sight Day is observed on 11 October 2012 by organizations and institutions around the world. There is no global theme for the Day this year allowing participating organizations to use the occasion to highlight their own priority areas. In Egypt, organizations will be focusing on the major causes of blindness – cataract, glaucoma, refractive...

Barriers to effective care for mental health include a lack of resources and trained health care providers and social stigmaThis year’s theme for the World Mental Health Day is “Depression: a global crisis”. Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 350 million people affected. Depression is different from usual mood...

The WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean concluded its 59th session by calling upon Member States to provide support to alleviate the suffering of refugees and internally-displaced persons in the Syrian Arab Republic and neighbouring countries. It also expressed solidarity for Afghanistan and Pakistan in their efforts to eradicate...

Members of the Regional Committee attended yesterday the opening of the 59th session in the Regional OfficeWith a heavy agenda full of important health issues, and the features of a new health strategy in the Region, the 59th session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean opened yesterday, Monday 1 October 2012, at the...

As of 25 September 2012, no additional cases of acute respiratory syndrome with renal failure due to infection with a novel coronavirus have been reported to WHO. WHO is continuing investigations into two recently confirmed infections identified as a novel coronavirus. Today WHO issued an interim case definition to help countries strengthen...

In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, under-5 mortality dropped by 41% between 1990 and 2011 The number of child deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean Region has dropped to less than 1 million for the first time ever, according to estimates for 2011 recently released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. In the Eastern...

23 September 2012 – On 22 September 2012, the United Kingdom (UK) informed WHO of a case of acute respiratory syndrome with renal failure with travel history to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The case is a previously healthy, 49-year-old male Qatari national that presented with symptoms on 3 September 2012 with travel history to Saudi Arabia prior to...