12 May 2024, Cairo, Egypt – Nurses and midwives make up more than half the health workforce in most countries of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. Today, as we celebrate International Nurses Day 2024, we also reflect on the many challenges faced by nurses in the Region. In the past decade, the density of nurses and midwives has not grown in...

Islamabad, 7 May, 2024 – WHO's Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr Hanan Balkhy, has concluded her inaugural visit to Pakistan. The comprehensive five-day mission spanned Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore, and included high-level meetings with government officials, visits to WHO-supported health facilities, and participation in the...

3 May 2024 – WHO is deeply concerned that a full-scale military operation in Rafah could lead to a bloodbath. More than 1.2 million people are currently sheltering in the area, many unable to move anywhere else. A new wave of displacement would exacerbate overcrowding, further limiting access to food, water, health and sanitation services,...

24 April 2024, Cairo, Egypt – World Immunization Week this year coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). Such has been the programme’s remarkable impact on global health that the “E” in EPI today stands for “Essential”. Since 1974, this WHO initiative has inspired countries to use vaccines to do...

Distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, and members of the media, We warmly welcome you to this press conference to mark World Immunization Week. This year, the week coincides with a remarkable milestone – 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization, or EPI. When launched in 1974, this WHO initiative started out with a limited series of...

24 April 2024, Cairo, Egypt – A Therapeutic Patient Education Expert Workshop held on 21–22 April made significant advances towards developing a regional curriculum for therapeutic patient education (TPE) on diabetes management. A diverse group of regional and global experts came together at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean...

25 April 2024, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran – Dr Hanan Balkhy concluded her first official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran as the new WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, which took place on 12–15 April. She met with officials and partners to discuss WHO’s work on the ground and how to strengthen collaborations and strategic...

7 April 2024, Beirut, Lebanon – WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy concluded a 2-day visit to Beirut, Lebanon, last week at a time when hostilities are escalating on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. The visit that took place on 2 and 3 April represented the third country visit on Dr Balkhy’s official tour of...

Join our ONE VOICE campaign in the runup to World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2024. To take part, record a short video message that speaks to your peers about the sneaky ways that tobacco companies try to get young people hooked on nicotine. You can submit a video if you’re a young person aged 13–35 years and live in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean...

6 April 2024, Jerusalem, Cairo, Geneva - A WHO-led multi-agency mission accessed Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 5 April to conduct a preliminary assessment of the extent of destruction and identify needs to guide future efforts to restore the facility. The highly complex mission was conducted in close partnership with the United Nations Office for...