29 May 2025, Cairo, Egypt — On 31 May the world will mark World No Tobacco Day 2025 under the banner “Bright Products. Dark Intentions”. This year’s theme sheds light on the tobacco industry’s tactics to lure women and young people into addiction through flavored and colorful products. Tobacco use is the leading cause of…
26 May 2025 Thank you all for being here today. It is always a pleasure to connect with ACANU—you know the issues and care deeply about the UN. Let me begin with the World Health Assembly—particularly the Pandemic Accord—before turning to Gaza and Sudan. WHA78 has delivered real breakthroughs for global health, despite a fraught…
31 May 2025 Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death globally, and a major health challenge in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. An estimated 37 million children aged 13-15 years worldwide use tobacco. Our Region has the highest youth smoking rates in the world. An alarming 15 per cent of boys in our Region use tobacco,…
WHA78, Geneva, 19-27 May 2025Agenda item: 17.5Document: A78/4 Chair, Your Excellencies, Director-General, When we committed to eradicate polio in 1988, the world was different. Today, conflict, climate change, and economic strain make our mission harder. Yet, our goal is within reach. Since 1988, we have reduced polio cases by 99.9 per cent, eliminated wild poliovirus…
WHA78, Geneva, 19-27 May 2025Agenda item: 17.1Document: A78/13 Chair, Your Excellencies, Director-General, The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region shoulders one-third of the world’s humanitarian burden, and 15 per cent of our population requires humanitarian assistance. The unfolding crises in Gaza and Sudan—alongside protracted emergencies in Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan—are compounded by ongoing disease outbreaks, revealing the…
WHA78, Geneva, 19-27 May 2025 Agenda item: 20 Document: A78/16 Chair, Your Excellencies, Director-General As outlined in the Director-General’s report, health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory are at crisis levels. In the West Bank, access to healthcare is significantly hindered by movement restrictions, violence, and disruptions to essential services. Nearly 600 days into the…
19 May 2025 Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues, It is an honour to join you today, and I thank His Excellency the Chair―Dr Saleh al-Hasnawi, Minister of Health of the Republic of Iraq―for this important opportunity. The World Health Organization greatly values its longstanding partnership with the League of Arab States. Our cooperation is rooted in a…
20 May 2025 Agreement’s adoption follows three years of intensive negotiation launched due to gaps and inequities identified in national and global COVID-19 response. Agreement boosts global collaboration to ensure stronger, more equitable response to future pandemics. Next steps include negotiations on Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing system. Member States of the World Health Organization…
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – 19 May 2025 – The WHO Foundation has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tawuniya, Saudi Arabia’s largest insurance provider, marking its first-ever corporate partnership in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. This milestone agreement establishes a framework for advancing regional health priorities in alignment with the…
15 May 2025, Cairo, Egypt – The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean has launched a landmark innovation designed to transform how countries prepare for and respond to health emergencies. The All-Hazard Information Management (AIM) Toolkit leverages generative artificial intelligence to drastically reduce the time needed to produce critical response documents…
