As 2022 draws to a close, I would like to thank WHO’s Member States, partners and colleagues in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region for all your efforts to make our Region healthier and safer over the past year.

Looking back, we have much to celebrate. Thanks to vaccines and robust prevention and control measures, the COVID-19 pandemic is now manageable. The Dubai EXPO, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the holy Hajj pilgrimage all concluded safely and successfully without any major public health issue. The COP27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, highlighted the close links between climate and health, and COP28 will also be held in our Region next year.

We continue to advance towards universal health coverage (UHC). Just a few weeks ago, stakeholders from across the Region came together to discuss how to strengthen primary health care (PHC). Member States and PHC partners signed the Cairo Call for Action to support national implementation of the Regional Professional Diploma in Family Medicine. And WHO is supporting governments and authorities to enhance health system governance, foster innovation, maintain essential services and tackle health inequity.

We are making headway in the fight against communicable diseases. There was notable progress in disease elimination in several countries, and every country of the Region reported surveillance data to WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Platform. But we are still behind on global targets. Since 2020, 4.5 million additional children in the Region have not received a single dose of any routine vaccine. Finding and vaccinating every zero-dose child must be a top priority for the coming year.

Countries are working hard to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which are responsible for almost 70% of all deaths in our Region. This year saw an enormous range of actions, from combating the tobacco industry and improving cancer services, to supporting nutrition, fostering mental health, and more.

And we are seeing concerted efforts to address the underlying determinants of ill health and promote health and well-being throughout the life course. I am proud that the Health for Peace regional initiative that launched in 2019 has grown into the Global Health for Peace Initiative, while our Region strongly supported a landmark resolution on well-being and health at the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly in May.

All these achievements show that innovation and progress are possible in all sorts of settings and circumstances. The 69th session of the WHO Regional Committee in October further proved that point with an exhibition of health success stories from every country of the Region. Some of the featured projects were elegant in their simplicity, while others used sophisticated technology, but they were all innovative and they all demonstrated solidarity and care for all.

A new regional strategy on digital health should provide a further boost for innovation going forward, and we will also be striving to harness the power of strategic partnerships for health through the Regional Health Alliance.

We still face huge challenges. Alongside COVID-19, diverse public health threats continue to take a heavy toll on communities and economies in our Region. Almost half its countries are directly affected by conflict and other humanitarian crises; more than 111 million people are in need of assistance; and two thirds of all the world’s refugees come from the Region.

Strikingly, our Region accounts for 9% of the world’s population but less than 2% of global health spending, leaving many families vulnerable to increasing financial hardship and catastrophic health costs.

Now is the time to rebuild better and fairer, drawing on all that we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. We need both to focus on sustainable investments in health as part of the road towards the Sustainable Development Goals and to ensure that we are better prepared for future threats.

Next year will mark WHO’s 75th anniversary – truly a landmark to celebrate. We can all be proud of the many advances in public health that have been made in the past three quarters of a century. And we should be excited about the road ahead. There is so much more we can achieve together.

So as 2022 ends, let us renew our collective commitment for the coming year.

Let us work together towards our goal of health for all by all. Let us help the vulnerable, reach the unreached, increase awareness, engage community, involve societies, empower and build capacities and establish peace for health.

Let us paint a healthier future for us all.

I wish you all and your families a well-deserved, happy and peaceful holiday.