I am pleased to present this report on the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region during 2019.

WHO undertakes a vast span of activities to support the health and well-being of people in our Member States. Our areas of work include everything from tackling the underlying social determinants of illness, preventing disease and promoting health through to strengthening health systems and tackling health emergencies, while our working methods range from high-level dialogue with government leaders to direct provision of supplies and services in emergency situations.

To coordinate such a wide-ranging programme of work, a clear direction and priorities are essential. My top priority when I took charge as WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean in 2018 was therefore to lead the development of a new vision that would guide all our work in the Region, ensuring that our activities were focused and linked to measurable results. Vision 2023 was warmly welcomed by Member States in October 2018, and the following year we launched a new strategy aimed at turning our vision into reality.

Vision 2023 is closely aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals and WHO’s global strategy, the Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW 13). It is based on the principle of “health for all by all”; in other words, we believe that to achieve the improvements in health and well-being that we seek, everyone – governments, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, communities and individuals – has a part to play.

It is an ambitious vision, but our strategy identifies concrete steps that WHO will take to help achieve it and specifies the indicators we will use to assess our performance.

This report covers the first year in which we implemented our vision and strategy. It is structured around our four core strategic priorities for the Region: expanding universal health coverage, addressing health emergencies, promoting healthier populations and transforming WHO itself to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

The report highlights our main achievements in 2019 and the major challenges we faced. There are links to further information on many issues, and you will find a wealth of other resources on our website: www.emro.who.int. In addition, please note that there is a separate update which focuses on progress in implementing our flagship strategic initiatives.

I am proud of the contribution that WHO is making in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. As this report shows, our dedicated and professional staff are achieving notable successes across the Region, including in the most challenging circumstances. But as this report also makes clear, the Organization cannot accomplish anything without strong collaboration from a range of partners, most importantly our Member States. We look forward to further successful collaboration in years to come.