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Accelerating action on health emergency preparedness and response
13 October 2025, Cairo, Egypt – As of June 2025, WHO was managing 16 graded emergencies across the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Multiple overlapping crisis had left over 115 million people in need of assistance– nearly a third of the global humanitarian burden. In 2024, the Region experienced 80 disease outbreaks, more than double the number in...
RC72 to review blood safety progress in the Region
13 October 2025 – Some countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region continue to face major challenges in ensuring the availability, safety, quality, accessibility, affordability and clinical efficacy of blood and blood products. The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean has been actively engaged in improving national blood systems,...
Palliative care: easing suffering, supporting families
13 October 2025 – Palliative care helps people manage pain, cope with emotional stress and make the most of life when facing serious health challenges. It also supports families, offering guidance, reassurance and a sense of agency during difficult times. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, where millions of people live with serious illnesses, the...
Climate change and health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: from framework to action
13 October 2025 – Guided by the WHO Regional framework for action on climate change, health and environment 2023–2029, countries across the Eastern Mediterranean Region have been intensifying efforts to protect public health from climate change. Endorsed in October 2023, the framework provides a roadmap for building climate-resilient and...
Zero-dose children: addressing inequity in routine immunization coverage
13 October 2025 – Across the Eastern Mediterranean Region, millions of children are growing up with no protection against deadly but preventable diseases. These zero-dose children – more than 14.3 million between 2019 and 2024 – have yet to receive a single routine vaccine. Safe, effective and affordable vaccines have been available for decades, yet...
Noncommunicable diseases in emergencies
13 October 2025 – Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cancer, chronic lung conditions, and heart disease claim millions of lives across the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Each year, more than 2.8 million people die from these 4 major NCDs. In 2025, nearly 3 out of every 4 deaths in the Region were related to these conditions. And in times of...
Statement by Hanan Balkhy Regional Director at the RC72 Presser
8 October 2025 Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for joining us today. Today’s press conference will preview the 72nd Session of the Regional Committee, but first want to talk about Gaza. In September, I attended the High Level International Conference on the Two-State Solution at the UN General Assembly co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France,...
Closing remarks by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean at the High Level Virtual Ministerial Meeting on Accelerating Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Actions in High Burden Countries in the Region
06 October 2025 Excellencies, distinguished guests, colleagues, and partners, Thank you for dedicating your time and commitment to this important dialogue. Our collective goal is clear: no woman or child should die from preventable causes. The discussions today reaffirmed the urgency of accelerating progress through national action,...
Opening remarks by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean at the High Level Virtual Ministerial Meeting on Accelerating Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Actions in High Burden Countries in the Region
06 October 2025 Your Excellencies, Ministers of Health,Regional Directors of UNICEF and UNFPA, Distinguished guests, colleagues and partners, I ask you to picture the following scene—all too common across our Region. A mother in Mogadishu, heavily pregnant, walks for hours to reach the nearest health facility. When she finally arrives, there is no...
WHO launches regional framework to defeat meningitis by 2030
Cairo, Egypt, 2 October 2025 – The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially launched a regional framework to defeat meningitis by 2030 in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, marking a bold step toward eliminating meningitis epidemics and saving lives across the Region. Launching the draft Framework for implementing the Defeating...
