21 March 2024

21 March 2024  – Dr Hanan Balkhy visited Saudi Arabia in February–March 2024, early in her tenure as WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. Her aim was to engage with local stakeholders, focusing on priority areas for WHO such as human resource development and supply chain management. She met with Minister of Education His Excellency Mr Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan to discuss future joint initiatives to enhance health workforce capacity in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The aim is to accelerate actions to address health workforce shortages, imbalances, and capacities to...

14 June 2023

14 June 2023 – The response of Saudi Arabia to the COVID-19 pandemic has been globally acknowledged as well structured, well managed and effective. With the Ministry of Health leading the response, Saudi Arabia established a strong multisectoral coordination mechanism through the adoption of a “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approach. The newly established public health authority played a crucial role in coordinating all relevant authorities to respond to public health events or emergencies, aligning their efforts of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 that takes into consideration the evolving roles of the health sector. One...

26 June 2022

26 June 2022 – WHO's strategic partnership with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) entails mobilizing resources and conducting capacity-building, as laid out in the Joint Cooperation Programme that was signed by WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in 2018. A request was made to WHO to help build the capacity of KSrelief staff within the area of project risk management.  This request was based on their experience with WHO in conducting monthly calls with WHO project managers in country offices.  These calls aim to strengthen the stratgic partnership and failitate...

28 June 2020

28 June 2020 – The Government of Saudi Arabia has announced that this year's hajj will proceed with a limited number of pilgrims of different nationalities residing within the country.  This decision was made based on a risk assessment and analysis of different scenarios in line with WHO guidelines for mass gatherings in the context of COVID-19 to protect the safety of the pilgrims and minimize the risk of transmission inside the country and beyond. Pilgrims will be selected based on the hajj quota system according to nationality and additional readiness...

26 March 2020

25 March 2020, Riyadh — The World Health Organization (WHO), with support from Saudi Arabia, is working to combat COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and beyond. On 23 March, Saudi Arabia helped airlift WHO medical equipment and supplies from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai to Aden, Yemen. The shipment, which included personal protective items for health workers, laboratory screening tests, trauma medication and other medical supplies, will be distributed to Sana’a and Aden to support readiness for COVID-19, as well as the humanitarian response to the ongoing conflict. Earlier on...

27 May 2019

27 May 2019, Aden/Sana’a — The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its gratitude to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for a grant of US$ 20 million, which will support ongoing efforts to stop the spread of cholera in Yemen. “This support is crucial for stopping cholera transmission in the most affected communities, and to build the capacity to rapidly detect and respond to future outbreaks,” said Altaf Musani, WHO Representative in Yemen. Yemen has been grappling with cholera outbreaks since the end of 2016, with the ongoing crisis in the country...

03 March 2019

3 March 2019 ‒ The Fourth Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety is being held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from 2 to 3 March 2019, with a focus on patient safety in low- and middle-income countries that shoulder two thirds of the global patient harm burden. Patient safety in health care is a serious global public health concern and a major challenge for health systems everywhere. Adverse events are the fourteenth leading cause of death and injury worldwide and as many as 42 million people are affected by adverse events after...

17 December 2018

17 December 2018 – The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has informed manufacturers and importers of tobacco products to get ready for applying plain packaging on all forms of tobacco products. This step was done in close collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and in line with WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its guidelines, which Saudi Arabia is Party to. A “plain” tobacco package is one that displays brand names and product names in a standard colour and font style, without using logos, colours, brand...

26 August 2018

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 major health events.  With technical support from WHO, the Ministry invested in improving readiness, preparedness and response capacities at all levels to prevent and detect potential health threats early on. A comprehensive and integrated plan...

19 August 2018

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.  The development of the electronic early warning surveillance system is a joint effort between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health and WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. This is the first year in...

15 July 2018

  12 July 2018 – During the first week of July, 24 public health experts gathered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to receive training on how to respond to an outbreak of deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) as part of a Rapid Response Team (RRT). Since late 2012, the MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has infected 2229 people and claimed 791 lives (35.5%), with the majority of cases and deaths occurring in Saudi Arabia (1853 and 717, respectively). Rapid Response Teams are technical, multi-disciplinary teams that are readily available for quick mobilization and deployment...

29 April 2018

30 April 2018, Riyadh – Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, paid his first visit to Saudi Arabia Sunday on 29 April to meet with the Custodian of the 2 Holy Mosques, King Salman Ben Abdel Aziz.  “It has been a great honour to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – a highly valued partner in global health, said Dr Tedros. We look forward to expanding on this important collaboration through the coming years. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a key strategic partner both in the region and globally.” Saudi Arabia plays...