TEHRAN –Hanan Hassan Balkhi, the World Health Organization’s director for the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, is on a four-day visit to the provinces of Isfahan and Tehran to assess the country’s healthcare system’s capabilities and progress.

She started the travel on Saturday, April 13, visiting Isfahan University of Medical Sciences as well as several healthcare centers and infrastructures in the province.

Her plan for the next two days will include holding meetings with health authorities, and the WHO representative to the country, participating in a G5 (the group of four countries – Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan – plus the World Health Organization) meeting, and non-communicable disease campaign report meeting, and also paying a visit to the Iran House of Innovation and Technology (iHiT) as well as some health and treatment centers.

Expanding co-op with WHO EMRO

In February, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi announced the country’s readiness to foster cooperation with the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.

On the sidelines of the international conference on quality and safety in healthcare in Doha which was held from February 21 – 25, Einollahi held a meeting with Hanan Balkhi, the newly appointed WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, the health ministry’s website reported.

During the meeting, Balkhi lauded the health ministry for remarkable achievements and commendable progress.

She went on to say, “I am trying to focus on three issues in the Eastern Mediterranean region: empowering human resources in the field of health, improving self-sufficiency in the production of medicine and medical equipment, and fighting against narcotics and treating addicts.”

She further noted that it's essential to hold talks with the member states to solve the problems of the Eastern Mediterranean region.

In the end, she expressed hope to travel to Iran to learn more about the implementation of the Family Physician Program in Iran.

Einollahi, for his part, referred to the country’s achievements in the field of the health system, saying, “The Family Physician Program is a preventive health program that is being implemented in 195 cities of the country.”

Iran enhances regional health security 

On May 12, 2023, Syed Jaffar Hussain, the World Health Organization Representative and Head of Mission in Iran, appreciated Iran for its efforts to enhance health security in the region.

The WHO representative also thanked Iran for holding the 26th G5 High-Level Experts Meeting on Health Cooperation and the 1st Healthcare Leadership and Governance Training Program, IRNA reported.

G5 countries (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, plus the World Health Organization) took part in the meetings from May 6 to 10 with the theme of “Joint Work for Solving Joint Health Problems.”

Addressing the opening ceremony, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi referred to the unity and cooperation of the countries in the fields of health, treatment, and medical education as a historical necessity.

Achieving, maintaining, and promoting health is never possible in a regional way and does not happen in an isolated region, but requires the cooperation of countries, especially neighboring countries, he stressed.

“To develop health in the countries of the group of five, we must look at health collectively and think about creating and promoting health in all countries.

The health sector of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan is tied to each other. Today, with the relations and cooperation that exist in different sectors between the countries and neighbors, a disease is capable of penetrating all countries.”

MT/MG