15 October 2018, Cairo – Health ministers and high-level representatives of the 22 countries and territories of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, partner and civil society organizations will gather in Khartoum next week to attend the 65th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, being hosted by the Government of...

26 September 2018 | Tehran | Cairo | Geneva - The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem in the Islamic Republic of Iran. By achieving this milestone, the country becomes the third in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, after Oman in 2012 and Morocco in 2016, to overcome this...

7 September 2018 – The scale of human suffering and health needs in Yemen today is unprecedented. An entire country and its health infrastructure has been brought to its knees. People who have survived more than three and a half years of war now find themselves facing additional threats of hunger and disease.  Malnourished mothers are unable to...

6 September 2018, Salalah, Oman – After the signing yesterday of the UHC 2030 International Health Partnership Global Compact for progress towards universal health coverage by countries of the Region, health ministers, policy-makers and experts from WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region and beyond today called on heads of state and governments of...

4 September 2018, Salalah, Oman – Today, countries of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region signed a UHC2030 Global Compact during the “Ministerial meeting on the road towards universal health coverage” taking place in Salalah, Oman, from 3 to 5 September 2018. Ministers of health and heads of delegations collectively approved the landmark document,...

28 August 2018, Cairo, Egypt – A ministerial meeting on the road to universal health coverage (UHC) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region will be held in Salalah, Oman, from 3 to 5 September 2018. Hosted by the Government of Oman and organized by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, the 3-day meeting will bring together ministers of...

23 August 2018, Makkah – An estimated 2.7 million Muslims from 109 countries have safely concluded the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Makkah.   The hajj is one of largest annual religious mass gatherings in the world, but months of preparedness by the Saudi Ministry of Health meant hajj 2018 (1439 H) was celebrated without...

18 August 2018 – As the number of pilgrims participating in the annual hajj has been increasing in recent years, WHO has been providing support to Saudi Arabia to ensure implementation for the first time during the hajj season of an early warning surveillance system to prevent, early detect, and respond to public health threats during the hajj. ...

Statement by Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari. WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean 19 August 2018, Cairo, Egypt - The Eastern Mediterranean Region is witnessing an unprecedented number, magnitude and severity of emergencies, culminating in a major humanitarian tragedy. More than 70 million people are in need of health aid, including 16...

Breastfeeding within an hour of birth is critical for saving newborn lives  6 August 2018 – A new report by UNICEF and WHO reveals that an estimated 78 million babies – or 3 in 5 – are not breastfed within the first hour of life, putting them at higher risk of death and disease and making them less likely to continue breastfeeding. Most of these babies...