Select your language
Lethal combination of hunger and disease to lead to more deaths in Gaza
People displaced from their homes waiting for food at Al-Shaboura Camp, in the centre of Rafa, Gaza on 17–18 December 2023. Photo credit: WHO 21 December 2023 – Hunger is ravaging Gaza, and this is expected to increase illness across the Strip, most acutely among children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and older people. In new estimates...
Opening remarks, UN Palais briefing, 21 December 2023
Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative on the occupied Palestinian territorySean Casey, WHO Emergency Medical Teams coordinator Yesterday, 20 December 2023, in another high-risk joint mission, a team from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN partners, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),...
WHO and IARC: 10 years of collaboration to control cancer
20 December 2023 – WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) continue to work together to improve cancer surveillance systems in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The aim is to improve reporting and surveillance systems and the quality of cancer-related data – ultimately to contribute to cancer control. Such efforts...
Regional Director statement for media briefing
19 December 2023 Thank you all for joining us. This is my last media briefing before the year ends, and I am speaking to you today with the heaviest heart as I, like all of us here, witness unimaginable suffering. Our region of over half a billion people is home to 38% of the global population in need of humanitarian aid, which means over 140...
WHO delivers health supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital, appeals for continued access to address urgent needs in north Gaza
17 December 2023 — WHO staff participated in a joint UN mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 16 December to deliver health supplies and assess the situation in the facility. Partners on today’s mission included OCHA, UNDSS, and UNMAS. The team delivered medicines and surgical supplies, orthopedic surgery equipment, and anesthesia...
RD’s intervention for the special session on the health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem Geneva
Geneva, 10 December 2023 Dear colleagues, ladies, and gentlemen, I would like to start by asking for a minute of silence in memory of our WHO colleague Dima Alhaj and all the humanitarian workers who have been killed in Gaza, some with several of their family members, over the past two months. WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region – plagued by some of...
WHO strengthens risk assessment capacities in Morocco
Participants listen to the WHO expert during her presentation. Photo credit: M. Ismaili4 December 2023, Rabat, Morocco – The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean ran a 2-day training programme in Rabat, Morocco, to strengthen the risk assessment capacities of the Moroccan Ministry of Health. Experts from the WHO Regional Office, WHO...
WHO appeals for protection of the health system from further attacks and degradation of its capacity
4 December 2023, Cairo/Geneva – Once again, nowhere is safe in Gaza. WHO is gravely concerned about the resumption of hostilities, including heavy bombardment in Gaza, and reiterates its appeal to Israel to take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as per the laws of war. We have seen what...
WHO and King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) sign a Letter of Intent to scale up health response assistance in Gaza Strip
23 November 2023, Cairo, Egypt – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) today signed a letter of intent to solidify their commitment to collaborative humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip. The letter of intent, for US$ 10 million, was signed by Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional...
Safe and disaster-resilient health facilities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
22 November 2023, Cairo, Egypt – The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean ran a 2-day capacity-building training for 6 countries to strengthen the safety and preparedness of health facilities to better respond to and manage emergencies and disasters. Participants from Afghanistan, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Oman, Pakistan, Syria...
