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Address by Dr Hanan Balkhy Regional Director WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region to the tenth global partners meeting on nursing and midwifery
23 May 2024
Your Royal Highness Princess Muna Al Hussein,
Dr Pamela Cipriano, President of the International Council of Nurses,
Ms Sandra Oyarzo Torres, President of the International Confederation of Midwives, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to join you today. Nurses and midwives are dear to my heart and high on my agenda.
They are vital components of multidisciplinary health teams, strong health systems and healthy communities.
As the largest cadre of health workers, nurses and midwives are drivers of healthy societies and healthy economies. Without them, we cannot achieve universal health coverage, health security, or the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
A key lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic is that we need to invest more in strengthening our health workforce.
When governments invest in training, employing and retaining nurses and midwives, they alleviate poverty and enhance social and economic prosperity, gender equality, social cohesion and peace.
Unfortunately, we are not investing enough in the health workforce globally nor in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Nurses and midwives make up more than half the health workforce in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, but we still face shortages. Our Region accounts for almost 18% of the global shortage of nurses, and if current trends continue, we will lack 1.2 million nurses by 2030.
That would impact every country of the Region.
Without more well-trained nurses and midwives, we cannot tackle the rise in communicable and noncommunicable diseases effectively. We cannot promote healthy lives for all.
WHO is trying to turn the tide. Fostering cooperation among countries. Enhancing training. Making sure that all health professionals are protected and valued.
Last year, WHO Member States meeting in our Regional Committee called for accelerated action to invest and empower the health workforce.
And now, as WHO Regional Director I am developing a flagship initiative to strengthen the health workforce in the Region. The aim is to build a regional health workforce for the future – one that is agile and prepared to confront a changing public health landscape. We need to look at future scenarios to guide the transformation in health professionals’ education, employment policies and investments.
I count on all WHO Member States and partners to work together to take this agenda forward.
We can create conditions for collaboration and build on the comparative strengths of different partners. We need to address the development of both individuals and institutions.
We must ensure that nurses and midwives are respected, enjoy a conducive working environment and have a more prosperous future.
Ultimately, we will all reap the benefits.
Message from Dr Hanan Balkhy Regional Director WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region to the WHO pathways to leadership for health transformation graduation ceremony
6 June 2024
My dear friends and partners, Dr Moeti and Dr Kluge, Colleagues,
I am delighted to join you today to celebrate our colleagues’ achievement in completing the Pathways to Health Leadership for Transformation programme.
In doing so, we are also celebrating another example of successful collaboration among our three regions.
As I think you all know, I am making action to strengthen the health workforce in the Eastern Mediterranean one of three flagship initiatives for my new term, so I am particularly pleased that WHO is walking the talk and investing in our own workforce.
Improving the leadership capacities of our staff is critical. We want them to bring the best out in their teams, boost cooperation with partners and better influence the global health agenda. To do that, we need to challenge, inspire and empower them.
I would like to thank Dr Moeti, and her colleagues for initiating this programme and sharing it with other regions. This first tri-regional cohort builds on previous successful collaborations between AFRO and EURO.
EMRO colleagues who joined this cohort have provided very positive feedback. They appreciated the chance to spend quality time with colleagues from other regions and exchange ideas and experiences.
I hear many other EMRO colleagues are now interested in joining future cohorts.
Let me congratulate everyone who successfully completed the programme. You have shown dedication, determination and perseverance. It cannot have been easy to juggle this additional commitment alongside your onerous workloads, but I am sure you will agree it was worth it.
Once again, I thank my fellow regional directors and colleagues, and I look forward to further graduation ceremonies.
Let us keep up the good work together.
Message from Dr Hanan Balkhy WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day
31 May 2024
Young people are at risk. They are being targeted by the tobacco industry to take up traditional and new tobacco products. The industry is desperate to attract the younger generation. It is using different promotional activities, different products and even false health claims to achieve this purpose.
The most recent data from the Eastern Mediterranean Region are alarming. Some of our Member States have some of the highest rates of tobacco use among adolescents aged 13–15 years in the world. Countries of the Region report smoking rates as high as 42% among boys and 20% among girls.
We must bring these numbers down if the Region is to achieve the global target of a 30% reduction in tobacco use by 2030. That means implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, including through the highest level of MPOWER policies.
World No Tobacco Day is a chance to alert young people to the dangers of tobacco and nicotine products. The industry’s only aim is to keep profits up – whatever the cost in ruined health and lives.
Today, we have a clear message, to governments, young people, nongovernmental organizations, civil society, schools and colleges: let us prioritize the protection
of children and young people. They are the adults of tomorrow and the future of this Region.
Message from Dr Hanan Balkhy WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean on the occasion of World Health Day
7 April 2024
Health is a human right, not a privilege. But all too often, that right is compromised. That’s why WHO has chosen “My health, my right” as the theme for World Health Day 2024.
It is a critical issue in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Our Region is home to 38% of all people in need of humanitarian aid globally.
Conflict and natural disasters are stopping people from getting the quality health care they need.
Urgent action is vital to reduce health inequities, safeguard human rights and prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable.
We are a long way from achieving universal health coverage and other health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
To ensure that everyone can live the healthiest possible life, countries need to invest in strong, inclusive health systems.
And they need to tackle the underlying determinants of health such as poverty, gender inequality and climate change.
WHO will continue working with countries to promote equitable health care and support the health workforce. We want to see a Region where every single person can attain the highest possible standard of health and well-being.
On World Health Day, I call on governments, health care professionals and other partners to recommit to our shared mission.
Together, let us make the right to health a reality for everyone in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
