TEHRAN –A delegation led by Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarqandi is going to attend the Seventy-first session of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO).

The meeting will be held in Doha, Qatar, from October 14 to 17 under the theme “health beyond borders: action, access, equity.”

The health minister is scheduled to deliver a speech on various regional health issues, such as the status of diseases like dengue fever and monkeypox in regional countries, the health status in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the achievements of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of health despite sanctions.

Also, at the end of the opening ceremony, the Kuwait government award for the control of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in the Eastern Mediterranean region will be awarded to Dawood Khalili, a faculty member of the Endocrine Sciences and Metabolism Research Institutes of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

On the sidelines of the event, Zafarqandi is scheduled to hold meetings with the health ministers of the state countries, as well as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, and Hanan Hasan Balkhi, WHO director of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.

The annual meeting of the member countries of EMRO is one of the most important regional events in which Ministers of health and high-level representatives of the 22 Member States and territories of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, as well as representatives of partner organizations and civil society, will meet to discuss priority public health issues, make decisions, and regulations.

The 71st EMRO meeting will include pre-summit sections, a specialized section, and side meetings.

During the session, Balkhi will present her regional vision for the endorsement of Member States. The vision, which aims to secure the best attainable level of health for everyone in the region, includes 3 flagship initiatives: expanding timely and equitable access to life-saving medicines and vaccines; building a more resilient health workforce, and reducing the morbidity, mortality, and social costs associated with substance use disorders.

The Regional Strategic Operational Plan describes what WHO aims to achieve in the coming 4 years in response to country priorities, and how it will do it. 

The Regional Committee will also include discussions of priority public health issues, technical papers, updates and a wide range of panel discussions and side events.

The technical papers that will be presented cover topics from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and health information systems (HISs) to addressing the burden of trauma in humanitarian settings and scaling up mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies.

AMR is a major global health problem. The Eastern Mediterranean Region has the highest – and fastest growing – rate of antibiotic use of any WHO region. Antimicrobial mis- and overuse fuels the development and spread of drug-resistant infections and is a major threat to human and animal health.

Participants will receive an update on the health and humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. In the Gaza Strip, an entire population has been cut off from sustained aid, and polio has resurfaced after 25 years, paralyzing an unvaccinated 10-month-old boy. In September, Ministry of Health with WHO and partners was able to vaccinate around 560 000 children under ten years during the first round of a vaccination campaign to stop the polio outbreak and prevent its international spread, that was made possible by adherence to humanitarian pauses by all parties and an enthusiastic response from families in Gaza. 

There have been an estimated 40 600 deaths so far, most of them women and children, and the toll is rising all the time. Civilian spaces and health care have come under sustained attack and the threat of disease outbreaks grows daily.

Ministers of Health and other participants will also receive updates on the work of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), polio eradication in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, progress on the strategic framework for blood safety and availability 2016–2025, the regional strategy to improve access to medicines and vaccines in the Eastern Mediterranean Region 2020–2030, building resilient health systems to advance universal health coverage in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, moving from theory to action to achieve the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

WHO EMRO to support cooperation between Iran, neighboring countries 

In April, Balkhi paid 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 April 13, visiting Isfahan University of Medical Sciences as well as several healthcare centers and infrastructures in the province.

The official held 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 visited Iran House of Innovation and Technology (iHiT) as well as some health and treatment centers.

Balkhi announced WHO’s support for multi-country partnerships including subregional collaboration between the Islamic Republic of Iran and neighboring countries. 

“WHO would like to share the Islamic Republic of Iran’s valuable experiences in primary health care, family medicine, the local production of medical supplies, health insurance, and preventive health initiatives with other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and beyond,” WHO website quoted  Balkhi as saying.

“It’s impressive to see how a quality integrated medical education has played a role in improving health services in the country, leading to higher life expectancy, lower mortality rates, and wider vaccination coverage,” the WHO website quoted Balkhi as saying.

With over 800 research centers, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made great efforts to expand its research capacity, she highlighted.

MT/MG