Tehran to Host Regional Meeting of WHO Ministers

WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean meets annually in October in one of the member states of the Region or its regional headquarters in Cairo.

The annual meeting is one of the most important regional events for making decisions about regional health policies.

At this meeting, important health issues at regional level are discussed and the results would be published in the form of resolutions, roadmaps, decisions and action plans. These results are presented to the countries for policy making and planning at the national level, whereby the member states are committed to enforce the provisions of these documents.

According to the WHO, key technical health issues on this year’s agenda will include ending preventable newborn, child and adolescent deaths, strengthening nursing and midwifery, strengthening the hospital sector, developing national institutional capacity for evidence-informed policy-making for health, accelerating regional implementation of the UN Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases.

The four-day event will also include progress reports on eradication of poliomyelitis; health, environment and climate change; civil registration and vital statistics systems; implementation of the Eastern Mediterranean vaccine action plan and regional malaria action plan; mental health care; implementation of the regional framework on cancer prevention and control; and implementation of the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance.

These reports provide updates on implementation of resolutions approved by the Regional Committee at previous sessions.

The summit will be attended by WHO’s Head, Tedros Adhanom, and representatives of Eastern Mediterranean countries including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Panels and visits will also be arranged with the aim of introducing the achievements of Iran’s health system.

This is the fourth time that the Islamic Republic of Iran is hosting this important regional summit.