03 March 2016 – The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean invited representatives from ministries of health in the Region to 2 rounds of emergency meetings to share information on Zika virus infection and associated conditions and discuss implementation of public health measures to prepare for, and respond to,...

Dr Ala Alwan, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, met His Excellency Engineer Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Falih to brief him on the outcomes of the mission Background Since its emergence in 2012, cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) continue to occur in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region signifying that the...

22 November 2015 – The cholera outbreak in Iraq has continued to decline over the past 3 weeks with a few cases being reported from the affected districts or governorates. A total of 4858 laboratory-confirmed cases tested at provincial laboratories have been reported from the country, with 2 related deaths as of 17 November 2015. Currently, 17 out of the...

1 November 2015 | Erbil, Iraq - An estimated 250 000 displaced persons will be targeted during the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaign to help control cholera outbreak in Iraq.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has mobilized 510 000 doses of OCV, and the 2-dose campaign is part of a strategy to prevent cholera transmission in high-risk areas and...

Iraq | 8 October 2015 – The World Health Organization (WHO), Iraq’s Ministry of Health and health partners have stepped up their response to contain the current cholera outbreak and prevent its spread. Comprehensive and multisectoral response activities cover the areas of coordination, surveillance, laboratory, case management, infection control, water...

13 September 2015 - A team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean concluded a mission to Saudi Arabia to assess the current situation of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) following the report of a hospital outbreak in Riyadh city. The main objectives of the mission were to...

Between April and May 2015, 235 staff from ministries of health and WHO country offices in the Region were trained in various capacities under the implementation of 90-day Ebola virus disease preparedness plan developed by the WHO Regional Office31 July 2015 - The 90-day action plan for enhancing preparedness and readiness measures for Ebola...

View infographic on MERS-CoV update as of 15 June 2015A total of 212 laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), including 95 deaths (case–fatality rate: 44.8%) were reported from countries of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region between 1 January and 15 June 2015. The majority of cases were reported from...

Cairo 10 May 2015 – The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean held an international scientific meeting on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss and share new scientific evidence and identify remaining gaps in knowledge pertaining to the virus’s origin, reservoir, and transmission mode. The...

Highlights A total of 967 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV, including 379 deaths (case-fatality rate 39%) were reported from Saudi Arabia. Of these, a total of 145 cases, including 58 deaths (case-fatality rate 40%), were reported in 2015 to date. The epidemiological and demographic characteristics of the disease do not show any significant...