4 June 2025, Cairo, Egypt – The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean launched a new strategy to reduce the burden of cholera across the Region by 2028. The strategy sets out a blueprint for a scaled-up multisectoral approach to tackle the root causes of cholera spread and prevent future outbreaks, aiming…
01 June 2025 Distinguished Regional Directors, Colleagues, and partners, Substance use is one of the most urgent, yet often neglected, public health challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean Region today. It threatens not only individual health but the security, safety, and economic well-being of our societies. The human and economic toll is staggering. Substance use contributes…
2 June 2025 Fellow Regional Directors, Distinguished Colleagues, Partners, It is my great honour to join you today for the signing of the Regional QPT Joint Statement. The establishment of a Regional Quadripartite One Health Coordination Mechanism is a major step forward for the health and resilience of our Region. The health of people, animals,…
03 June 2025 – This week marks one year since dozens of personnel from the United Nations, non-governmental and civil society organisations, and diplomatic missions were arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities in northern Yemen. Others have been detained since as far back as 2021. Today, we reiterate our urgent demand for their…
02 June 2025 Your Excellency, Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Health and Population of Egypt, Distinguished officials, Representatives of the Egyptian Vaccine Manufacturers Alliance, Colleagues and Partners, On behalf of the World Health Organization, I extend my warmest congratulations to Egypt for becoming the first country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to achieve the…
4 June 2025, Cairo, Egypt –World Blood Donor Day (WBDD), observed each year on 14 June, serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their lifesaving gifts of blood. A blood service that gives patients access to safe blood and blood products…
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…
