22 February 2024 Dear colleagues, ladies, and gentlemen, Good afternoon from WHO's Regional Office in Cairo, Egypt. I am honored to address you today as the newly appointed Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. As I begin my tenure, I'm deeply aware of the profound challenges our Region is facing. In Gaza, an entire population...

21 February, Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Amid a worsening health emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) logistics hub in Dubai, in partnership with Dubai’s International Humanitarian City, will be delivering critical health supplies worth over US$ 1.7 million to the Gaza Strip. In total, 80 metric tonnes of life-saving medicines,...

20 February 2024 – WHO led two life-saving missions to transfer 32 critical patients, including two children, from Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza on 18 and 19 February, amid ongoing hostilities and access restrictions. The high-risk missions were conducted in close partnership with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the United...

15 February 2024  – On International Childhood Cancer Day 2024, we highlight the vital role of parents, as well as family doctors and paediatricians, in the early detection of childhood cancers. No one is more ready to invest in their children’s well-being than parents. By getting to know the early signs and symptoms of certain cancers and looking out for...

6 February 2024, Cairo, Egypt – A US$ 10 million agreement signed today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) will provide more than one million people in Gaza with access to emergency life-saving health services. “The collaboration between WHO and KSrelief signifies a strategic,...

Protecting children from tobacco industry interference Application form On 31 May 2024, WHO will celebrate World No Tobacco Day. The tobacco problem is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing about 8.3 million people a year globally. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use, while...

Cancer is a major contributor to global mortality, causing about 1 in every 6 deaths and affecting nearly every household (1). Globally, there were an estimated 20 million new cases of cancer and 9.7 million deaths from cancer in 2022. The cancer burden will increase by about 77% by 2050, further straining health systems, people and communities...

29 January 2024, Cairo, Egypt – To mark the World Health Organization’s 75th anniversary, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean hosted a networking and partner and staff appreciation event last night, at the Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo, under the theme “Painting a healthier and safer future together”. The aim was to renew...

18 January 2024 – Cairo, Egypt – The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean successfully organized a landmark event as part of the Presidential Initiative on Women’s Health. Held on 18 January 2024 at the Hilton Heliopolis Hotel in Cairo, this roundtable event...

Cairo, Geneva, Jerusalem, 23 January 2024 – WHO and partners completed another high-risk mission on Monday to resupply fuel to the Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people remain cut off from aid. Across the Gaza Strip, the few remaining hospitals find themselves in ever more dire circumstances, with hostilities often...