WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy (fourth from left) is pictured next to WHO Representative to Saudi Arabia (to her left) and members of the WHO Saudi Arabia workforce. Photo credit: WHO Saudi Arabia/M. Ahmed 21 March 2024  – Dr Hanan Balkhy visited Saudi Arabia in February–March 2024, early in her tenure as WHO...

14 June 2023 – The response of Saudi Arabia to the COVID-19 pandemic has been globally acknowledged as well structured, well managed and effective. With the Ministry of Health leading the response, Saudi Arabia established a strong multisectoral coordination mechanism through the adoption of a “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society”...

14 June 2023 – The response of Saudi Arabia to the COVID-19 pandemic has been globally acknowledged as well structured, well managed and effective. With the Ministry of Health leading the response, Saudi Arabia established a strong multisectoral coordination mechanism through the adoption of a “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society”...

26 June 2022 – WHO's strategic partnership with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) entails mobilizing resources and conducting capacity-building, as laid out in the Joint Cooperation Programme that was signed by WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in 2018. A request was made to WHO to help build the...

28 June 2020 – The Government of Saudi Arabia has announced that this year's hajj will proceed with a limited number of pilgrims of different nationalities residing within the country.  This decision was made based on a risk assessment and analysis of different scenarios in line with WHO guidelines for mass gatherings in the context of COVID-19 to...

25 March 2020, Riyadh — The World Health Organization (WHO), with support from Saudi Arabia, is working to combat COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and beyond. On 23 March, Saudi Arabia helped airlift WHO medical equipment and supplies from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai to Aden, Yemen. The shipment, which included personal protective items...

27 May 2019, Aden/Sana’a — The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its gratitude to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for a grant of US$ 20 million, which will support ongoing efforts to stop the spread of cholera in Yemen. “This support is crucial for stopping cholera transmission in the most affected communities, and to build the...

3 March 2019 ‒ The Fourth Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety is being held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from 2 to 3 March 2019, with a focus on patient safety in low- and middle-income countries that shoulder two thirds of the global patient harm burden. Patient safety in health care is a serious global public health concern and a major...

17 December 2018 – The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has informed manufacturers and importers of tobacco products to get ready for applying plain packaging on all forms of tobacco products. This step was done in close collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and in line with WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco...

23 August 2018, Makkah – An estimated 2.7 million Muslims from 109 countries have safely concluded the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Makkah.   The hajj is one of largest annual religious mass gatherings in the world, but months of preparedness by the Saudi Ministry of Health meant hajj 2018 (1439 H) was celebrated without...