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Statement by WHO Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy on visit to the occupied Palestinian territory
11 July 2024, Cairo, Egypt -- I have just returned from the occupied Palestinian territory, where I visited the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jenin, and Gaza. The situation in Gaza is concerning on both a human and humanitarian level. I saw firsthand the scale of devastation: lives and homes in ruins, hospitals overwhelmed, and a fully...
WHO Steps Up Cross-Regional Efforts for Sudan’s Humanitarian Emergency
ADRE, CHAD, 10 JULY 2024 – As millions flee war and hunger in Sudan, senior leadership from WHO’s Africa and Eastern Mediterranean Regions converged in Chad, which hosts the largest number of Sudanese refugees, to assess the urgent health needs of people impacted by this complex and deteriorating humanitarian crisis. The mission aims to optimize WHO...
Interregional meeting: Advancing Universal Health Coverage and Health Security through Private Health Sector Engagement
9 July 2024 – If we are to achieve the health-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, we need a paradigm shift, based on a new, more collaborative approach. This must harness the resources of all health actors and ensure that the private sector is also engaged in efforts to achieve public health goals. On 15–17 July 2024, the WHO...
Regional Director's statement during the press briefing on emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
26 June 2024 When we held our first press briefing on health emergencies after I took office about four months ago, I could not have foreseen the escalation of violence in our Region. The situation has grown more relentless and unforgiving, while life-saving aid remains out of reach for too many whose lives depend on it. In Gaza, the health...
WHO concerned about escalating health crisis in West Bank
15 June 2024, Jerusalem/Cairo/Geneva -- WHO remains concerned about the escalating health crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, where attacks on health infrastructure and increased restrictions on movement are obstructing access to health care. A spike in violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since...
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024: ensuring older people’s safety in emergencies
15 June 2024, Cairo, Egypt – On World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024, the spotlight is on older people in emergencies. Older people often face mobility issues, chronic health conditions or social isolation –some of the factors that can hinder their ability to access aid, evacuate safely or receive timely medical care and support services. The chaos...
Address by Dr Hanan Balkhy Regional Director WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region the joint FAO/WHO event to mark World Food Safety Day 2024
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...
Unsafe food makes 100 million people ill each year in the Region
6 June 2024, Cairo, Egypt – “Prepare for the unexpected” is the theme of the sixth World Food Safety Day, marked today by the United Nations. Food businesses, governments and consumers can all help prevent food contamination and foodborne illnesses. Food must be protected at every stage from production to consumption. WHO and the Food and...
Message from Dr Hanan Balkhy Regional Director WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region to the WHO pathways to leadership for health transformation graduation ceremony
6 June 2024 My dear friends and partners, Dr Moeti and Dr Kluge, Colleagues, I am delighted to join you today to celebrate our colleagues’ achievement in completing the Pathways to Health Leadership for Transformation programme. In doing so, we are also celebrating another example of successful collaboration among our three regions. As I think...
Better antimicrobial use data to accelerate action on antimicrobial resistance
3 June 2024 – Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing public health threat in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and globally. The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) project estimates that 123 834 deaths in the Region in 2019 were directly due to sepsis caused by resistant bacteria, while a further 341 097 deaths were associated...
