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WHO successfully concludes its mission to Saudi Arabia for the hajj (1438/2017): No major public health events reported
10 September 2017 – Upon the kind invitation of His Excellency the Minister of Health of Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean deployed a team of experts headed by the WHO Representative in Saudi Arabia to oversee the public health preparedness for hajj 2017 (1438 H). The team comprised of...
WHO conducts EWARN evaluation protocol training workshop in Cairo
13 June 2017 - WHO conducted a training workshop on the use of evaluation protocols for the Early Warning and Response Network (EWARN) – a proactive disease surveillance system used to rapidly detect and react to suspected disease outbreaks in countries affected by humanitarian emergencies. The workshop was conducted in Cairo at WHO’s Regional...
Regional training workshop held on Zika virus diagnostics
17 May 2017 – WHO conducted a training workshop on laboratory diagnostics of Zika virus for health laboratory professionals from countries of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region at the Central Public Health Laboratory of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. The 4-day training is part of WHO’s plan to enhance preparedness and readiness measure for prevention,...
WHO emergency response team visits cholera patients at Banadir Hospital
6 April 2017 – The WHO emergency response team and Ministry of Health officials visited cholera patients at the Banadir Hospital cholera treatment centre in Mogadishu to review care activities, available services and assess support needs. The visit was hosted by Dr Luul Hassan, head of the Banadir Hospital treatment centre, which has been...
WHO conducts first EWARS assessment in Syria
3 April 2017 – WHO has conducted an assessment of Syria’s Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) to review the system’s functionality, evaluate its ability to detect, confirm and respond to disease outbreaks, and provide recommendations for improvements. The mission team was composed of experts from WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern...
Chikungunya reported in Pakistan
27 February 2017 – Pakistan's Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has reported cases of Chikungunya in the country for the first time. A total of 803 cases have been reported since 19 December 2016 in the Sindh province, including 29 cases reported in various towns in Karachi during the week of 10-16 February 2017....
Sharp rise in number of suspected cholera cases in Somalia
18 January 2017 – The Ministry of Health in Somalia has provided WHO with an update on the ongoing outbreak of cholera. In the first 2 weeks of January 2017, a total of 1306 new suspected cases of cholera and 26 deaths (case-fatality rate: 1.99%) have been reported. Between January and December 2016, a cumulative total of 15 619 suspected cases of...
Update on the cholera situation in Somalia, September 2016
Cholera situation in Somalia, September 2016 updateUpdate on the cholera situation in Somalia, September 2016 As of September 2016, a cumulative number of 13 598 acute watery diarrhoea/cholera cases and 497 (case–fatality rate 3.64%) deaths have been reported in 25 districts. Of these, 6452 (47.5%) were women and 7 884 (57.9%) were children...
Influenza surveillance in the Region
Highlights 15 out of 22 countries in the Region have reported conducting surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) or both. 16 centres are currently designated as national influenza centres by WHO in the Region. Out of these, 13 centres are functional with the capacity to isolate influenza virus. 20 out...
El Niño climate phenomenon: scaling up Somalia’s cholera preparedness and response capacities
Laboratory technicians working on cholera culture at the Public Health Laboratory in Mogadishu, SomaliaThe World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Somalia has taken proactive steps to scale up the health emergency preparedness and response capacities in all regions of Somalia to better manage health consequence of El Niño conditions. In view...
