The Eastern Mediterranean Region has been estimated to have the third highest burden of foodborne diseases per population, after the African Region and South-East Asia Region.
It is estimated that more than 100 million people living in the Region become ill with a foodborne disease every year, and 32 million of those affected are children under 5 years.
Diarrhoeal diseases caused by E. coli, Norovirus, Campylobacter and non-typhoidal Salmonella account for 70% of the burden of foodborne disease.
An estimated 37 000 people in the Region die each year as a result of diarrhoeal diseases, typhoid fever, hepatitis A and brucellosis, caused primarily by unsafe food.
Morbidity and mortality rates caused by contaminated food pose a serious threat to public health and place significant constraints on socioeconomic development in many of the Region’s countries.
Foodborne diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
More than 100 million
people fall ill
37000
die
32 million
children under 5 fall ill
