Health

23 April 2025 Your Excellency Dr Fahad Abdulrahman al-Jalajel, Minister of Health, Saudi Arabia, Distinguished colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for joining us today at this important gathering of WHO Collaborating Centres in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the WHO Secretariat. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation to each…

29 April 2025  Excellencies, Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mr. Xu Chen, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China, Esteemed representatives of the Permanent Missions to the UN, Colleagues from UN agencies and civil society organizations, This has been a fascinating discussion―and one that is long overdue. Allow…

6 May 2025, Cairo, Egypt – “It might be gloves. It’s always hand hygiene”, the theme of this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD), emphasizing the critical role of hand hygiene as a simple yet powerful and cost-saving infection prevention and control (IPC) intervention, alongside the importance of appropriate glove use and the need to…

WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy has concluded a successful 3-day visit to Tunisia between 13–16 April 2025. Dr Balkhy met with H.E. Dr Mustafa Ferjani, Minister of Health, to discuss ways to address the social determinants of health, drug addiction, migration of the health workforce, medicine shortages and vaccine plans….

25 April 2025 On this World Malaria Day, we are reminded of the devastating impact malaria continues to have on the world’s most vulnerable people. In 2023 alone, over 600,000 lives were lost to this preventable and treatable disease. In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, more than 375 million people remain at risk—most of them…

22 April 2025  Your Highness Princess Nouf bint Muhammad bin Abdullah, Excellencies, Distinguished guests,  It gives me great pleasure to join you here to today to discuss the strategic partnership between the World Health Organization and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  I am grateful to our gracious host, the King Khalid Foundation, for bringing us together…

24 April 2025, Cairo, Egypt – On World Malaria Day 2025, WHO and partners are promoting ‘Malaria Ends With Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite’, a campaign that aims to re-energize efforts at all levels, from global policy to community action, to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination. Malaria remains a significant public health challenge globally. In 2023, there…

9 April 2025  – The Sultanate of Oman welcomed World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy for a 1-day visit, on Wednesday, 9 April 2025, to reinforce collaboration to advance Health for All in Oman and the Region. The highlight of the visit was the launch of Oman’s National Health…

24 April 2025, Cairo, Egypt – World Immunization Week 2025, observed from 24–30 April, brings together the global health community to highlight the lifesaving power of vaccines and call for renewed commitment to immunization for all. Under the banner Immunization for All is Humanly Possible, this year’s campaign stresses how, with collective efforts and investment,…

15 April 2025, Cairo, Egypt – Two years into the conflict, Sudan’s health system is at breaking point. As the rainy season looms the country faces a perfect storm of disease outbreaks, malnutrition and collapsing services at a time when humanitarian access is dangerously restricted and funding for health is running dry. Today, more than…