Minister Ghobash calls on the World Health Organization to support the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Geneva-Sana

The work of the 150th session of the Executive Council of the World Health Organization continues in Geneva, with the participation of Syria, and on its agenda several topics, including strengthening the organization’s preparedness and response to health emergencies, the prevention of non-communicable diseases, infection prevention and control, and the immunization agenda 2030.

In its session, which started on January 24 and will continue until January 29, the council will also discuss strategies on HIV, viral hepatitis, influenza preparedness, the global health initiative for peace, polio eradication, maternal, infant and young child nutrition, and the food safety strategy.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Al-Ghabash, confirmed in a video speech during a session on strengthening the organization’s preparedness and response to health emergencies that Syria still suffers from a complex humanitarian situation as a result of the continuation of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on it, calling on the World Health Organization to continue providing the necessary support and response in a timely manner. At the same time, he affirmed Syria's full support to enhance its preparedness for pandemics and epidemics.

In a statement on behalf of the Eastern Mediterranean Region in the same regard, Minister Al-Ghubash stated that the Region is still facing an unprecedented scale of large-scale humanitarian crises and called on the World Health Organization to continue providing support to countries and places affected by wars and displacement and to assist Member States in mobilizing the necessary resources for national action plans for health security.

The Minister of Health valued the regional efforts to establish event-based surveillance and integrated surveillance of diseases and the global movement to establish the organization’s center to collect information on epidemics and pandemics, calling on the organization to strengthen efforts aimed at building the capabilities of the workforce in emergency situations.

Syria was elected to the membership of the Executive Council representing the Eastern Mediterranean Region for a period of three years within the work of the 74th session of the World Health Assembly in May last year and participated in its first meeting in June of the same year in the 149th session of the Council, which was organized by default.

The Executive Board has 34 members and meets at least twice a year and its tasks are to enforce the decisions of the Health Assembly, to enforce its policies and to advise it.