Mass polio vaccination campaigns are being launched in four countries of the region todayAmman/ Cairo, 2 March 2014– Children in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria will be the first of nearly 10 million children across the Middle East to receive a dose of polio vaccine this month. Mass vaccination campaigns were launched in the four countries today, to be...

Three months ago, most people had never heard of the Zika virus. Today, it makes global headlines on a daily basis. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a ‘public health emergency of international concern,’ marking only the fourth time an outbreak has been given such a designation in WHO’s history. The label is given to...

Is your city encouraging physical activity?Check out how physically active you are  24 February 2014, Dubai – The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the United Arab Emirates, held a two-day high-level regional forum on a life-course approach to promoting physical activity in Dubai, United Arab...

WHO supplies arrive at Al Hasakah governorate10 February 2014 – The World Health Organization (WHO) started this week to deliver medicines, vaccine and medical supplies to north-east Syria by chartered flights from the capital Damascus. A first plane, loaded with 40 tonnes of medical supplies, landed on Saturday at Quamishli airport in Al...

7 February 2014 - WHO has recently been notified by the Ministry of Health and Population, Egypt, of an increase in seasonal influenza activity. In some governorates, severe respiratory illnesses have been reported, of which a few were laboratory confirmed as influenza A (H1N1) pdm 2009. To date, 25 deaths associated with influenza have been...

4 February 2014 – World Cancer Day is observed every year by the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Union for International Cancer Control on 4 February. The slogan for this year’s Day is "Debunk the myths", which builds on the success of last year's campaign. The 2014 campaign focuses on dispelling...

Every day, thousands of local and international public health workers, community members, and volunteers on all sides of this conflict risk their lives to deliver basic services, including and especially immunization, to all Syrians. Photo credit: Tarik Jasarevic/WHO.3 February, Homs, Syria – The queue was already formed when three volunteer...

In 2013, WHO with the generous support from its donor partners successfully reached 6 million beneficiaries alone in Syria26 January 2014 - WHO requires a total of US$ 246 million in 2014 to continue providing life-saving health services to the growing number of increasingly vulnerable Syrians across the Region. As the Syrian conflict enters its...

23 January 2014 – Against the backdrop of peace talks on Syria which opened yesterday in Switzerland, senior United Nations humanitarian officials have joined international aid organizations calling for the protection of Syrian children, 11,000 of whom have been killed and 4 million forced to flee their homes over the past three years. “We...

Syrian children have the right to be vaccinated against polioDamascus,13 January 2014 – The representatives of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Syria strongly condemn the interruption of a polio immunization campaign in Al-Raqa Syrian governorate due to the intense fighting among groups. WHO and...