10 June 2024
Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to join you all today to mark the World Food Safety Day. Food safety is vital for health and a critical part of the public health and climate change agenda.
In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, an estimated 100 million people suffer from foodborne diseases annually, and 32 million of them are children under the age of five. Tragically, at least 37 000 people die because of unsafe food each year, primarily from diarrheal diseases.
Morbidity and mortality from contaminated food pose a serious threat to public health. They are also a barrier to socioeconomic development in many countries of our Region.
And the problem is getting worse as the number of food safety emergencies in the Region is increasing. Challenges such as humanitarian emergencies and political instability are compromising access to clean water and sanitation.
Food safety incidents can escalate swiftly from local occurrences to cross-border or even international emergencies.
So, as the theme of this year's World Food Safety Day "prepare for the unexpected" highlights, we need to get ready for the unexpected. Careful preparedness and planning, rapid information exchange and effective communication across the food continuum, nationally and globally, are essential to ensure prompt action when the time comes and save lives.
WHO is working closely with FAO on food safety globally and in our Region. Our partnership was further strengthened last year, when FAQ joined the Regional Health Alliance, which coordinates the health-related work of 17 United Nations agencies.
Today's meeting is a chance to reflect on our collaboration. We will hear in more detail about food safety challenges globally and in the Region, and what FAQ and WHO are doing to address them.
And we will discuss the critical importance of cross-sector collaboration and the One Health approach to ensure safety at every point in the food chain.
Colleagues,
Let me thank my dear colleague Abdul Hakim and all our colleagues at the FAQ Regional Office for hosting this event - and also, even more importantly, for all their work with us. And I thank everyone joining today for your ongoing efforts to ensure that everyone can enjoy safe, nutritious food.
WHO is proud to work with you to build the sustainable and resilient food safety systems we need to keep our Region healthy.
