Health

11 August 2025, Manama, Bahrain – World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy has completed her first official visit – from 4 to 6 August 2025 – to the Kingdom of Bahrain. The visit reaffirmed the longstanding strategic partnership between WHO and the Government of Bahrain, highlighted Bahrain’s progress…

31 July 2025, Jerusalem, Cairo: The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip, according to the alert published this week by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).   People are foregoing food for days. Others are dying as their undernourished, weakened bodies succumb to disease or organ failure. The health…

Invest in breastfeeding, invest in the future 1 August 2025 – Since 1992, World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) has been celebrated Annually, in the first week of August. In 2018, a World Health Assembly resolution endorsed WBW as an important breastfeeding promotion strategy. Championed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),…

26 July 2025 – In Lebanon, I stood in the ruins of a bombed-out primary health care centre in the southern suburbs of Beirut. I met mothers doing their utmost to keep their children healthy amid rising prices and dwindling options. And I witnessed the quiet determination of health workers who continue to show up…

World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on 28 July to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver, mostly caused by a viral infection that progresses to severe liver disease and liver cancer. Hepatitis is a major public health problem across the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region, affecting 27 million people…

Jerusalem, Cairo, Geneva, 27 July 2025 – Malnutrition is on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July. Of 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 occurred in July – including 24 children under five, a child over five, and 38 adults. Most of these people were declared dead…

24 July 2025, Cairo, Egypt – On 17 July 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean launched the Regional Coalition for Mental Health and Substance Use Prevention. A webinar held for the launch brought together civil society organizations (CSOs) working on mental health and substance use from across the Region….

24 July 2025, Cairo, Egypt – World Drowning Prevention Day, a global advocacy event held annually on 25 July, serves as an opportunity to highlight the tragic and profound impact of drowning on families and communities and offer lifesaving solutions to prevent it.   Over the last decade at least 3 million people have lost their…

Jerusalem, Cairo, Geneva, 22 July 2025 – WHO condemns in the strongest terms the attacks on a building housing WHO staff in Deir al Balah, in the middle area of Gaza, the mistreatment of those sheltering there, and the destruction of its main warehouse. Following intensified hostilities in Deir al Balah after the latest evacuation…

20 July 2025, Cairo, Egypt – In her visit to Afghanistan from 29 June to 1 July 2025, WHO Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy focused on polio eradication efforts, substance use treatment and other priority areas. Dr Balkhy met with national leaders and partners, including UN representatives and diplomats. In her meeting with the Minister…