Opening remarks of Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, at the COVID-19 press briefing, 1 December 2021
Cairo, 1 December 2021 – COVID-19 continues to take a toll on people’s lives and health across the Eastern Mediterranean Region and beyond, spreading fear and frustration. The arrival of the new variant of concern Omicron has aggravated the situation and poses potential threats to the hard-won gains of the past two years. Recent trends of...
Statement by WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean on COVID-19
Cairo, 28 November 2021. The emergence of the new COVID-19 variant of concern, Omicron, is a major cause of concern for the people of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region – just as it is across the world. As of 24 November, the Region has reported over 16.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 308,000 deaths since the start of the...
Building capacity of frontline health care workforce on latest COVID-19 clinical management practices priority for WHO
Cairo, 17 November 2021- WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean conducted a webinar series to enhance the knowledge and skills among frontline health care workers on the most up-to-date recommendations for the clinical management of people with COVID-19 over 3 sessions on 18 and 27 October, and 3 November 2021. The webinar sessions were...
Join global experts and stakeholders at the WHO Global E2P Summit to determine and advance evidence-informed policy-making in health
11 November 2021 – Join the WHO Director General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Angela Merkel, Michele Bachelete, Ban Ki-moon, Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, Soumya Swaminathan and other policy-makers and prominent academics in the virtual Global E2P Summit “COVID-19 and institutionalizing use of evidence for policy-making for health” taking place on 15-17 of...
WHO Regional Director's statement on COVID-19
8 November 2021 – Thank you for joining us today for our regional press briefing on COVID-19. As of yesterday, 7 November, WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region has reported almost 16.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. We have also tragically marked the death of more than 300 000 people in our Region since the beginning of the pandemic. The overall...
High-level Syrian delegation of the Ministry of Health visits Oman to learn best practices in public health response
31 October 2021, Damascus – A high level delegation from the Syrian Ministry of Health starts its official visit to Oman today to learn about best practices in establishing emergency operations centres and strengthening public health response mechanisms. Supporting Syria’s health system and strengthening public health emergency preparedness and...
New WHO course strengthens health diplomacy for the pandemic era in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
1 November 2021 – The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched an innovative online training programme to help key decision-makers in Member States of the Eastern Mediterranean Region work together effectively to develop global health policy. The new health diplomacy course is part of efforts to transform the Organization and ensure that all...
WHO delivers essential health supplies to Sudan
Khartoum, Sudan, 24 October — The World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered critical medicines and health supplies from its logistics hub in Dubai to Khartoum, Sudan to address the health needs of 1.5 million people, including the protection of over 300 000 front-line health workers. This operation represents the single largest air bridge...
Countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region use genome sequencing to monitor COVID-19 variants
Cairo, 21 October 2021– In order to control a disease like COVID-19, scientist need to better understand the evolution of the virus, as well as how it mutates into different strains. Throughout the course of the pandemic, genome sequencing is vital in detecting, identifying, and understanding the evolution and genomic diversity of COVID-19....
Regional Director’s remarks during the press conference on the closure of RC68
18 October 2021 - We have just concluded the 68th session of the Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, which was held remotely from 11 to 14 October 2021. This session was held under the theme “Rebuilding better and fairer: stronger systems, resilient communities”. It is a profound slogan that summarizes the goals that we aspire to...
