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In 25 years of service to WHO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, I have witnessed massive change in the social, economic and health status of the Region

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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Address by

DR HUSSEIN A. GEZAIRY REGIONAL DIRECTOR

WHO EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION to the

120TH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD Geneva, 22–30 January 2007

Mr Chairman, Members of the Executive Board, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me thank you, and all the Board members for the confidence you have placed in me. I am very pleased to accept the reappointment. I am grateful to all the Member States of the Eastern Mediterranean Region for their confidence and trust in me to serve them as their Regional Director. I am sensible of the honour of having been re- elected for a further term and pledge to rise to the challenge of delivering more, and more effectively. I am also deeply sensible of the challenges the Region faces at this time, and that I shall face as Regional Director in meeting the expectations placed upon me.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The leadership of WHO in health is the legitimate, constitutional and to a large extent (at least officially) unprotested mandate of this organization. However, the real leadership comes with actions and quality of work, planning and supervision in all

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areas related to health. No doubt, WHO still has a highly qualified staff, respected by its Member States and the international community.

In 25 years of service to WHO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, I have witnessed massive change in the social, economic and health status of the Region.

Much of this change has been positive, but not all. The Region is diverse and is going through a complex period of change in which it faces health challenges of all kinds.

Disasters, both man-made and natural, occur almost continuously. The gains we have made in bringing communicable diseases under control throughout much of the Region are now threatened by the emergence of new diseases and by the rising tide of chronic noncommunicable diseases. I look forward to increasing regional involvement in the Global Initiative for Treatment of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases, a cause I have championed for many years, triggering the initial global debate.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Among the achievements of the Region in recent years has been the firm move towards health sector reform. I have sought to ensure that primary health care and the principles laid down in 1977 at Alma-Ata continue to be the guiding strategy for health systems undergoing change. I will continue to promote partnership and dialogue with the private sector, civil society and nongovernmental organizations to ensure the needs of all sections of society are met. The Millennium Development Goals are integrated into our core programmes at regional level and in our collaboration with the nine priority countries in the Region.

I am committed to addressing the major challenge of the health workforce in the Region. Despite vast progress over the years, the Region still faces critical shortages in key areas, both in terms of distribution and of skills, while also being subject to the pressures of the global market, growing populations and migration. The regional health systems observatory will contribute to the information gathering in this key area of health service delivery.

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I am proud of our commitment in the Region to support for health systems research and knowledge management. Promoting the translation of research findings into policies that lead to action on the ground is one of WHO’s key mandates, and one that has direct impact on health systems and services in countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the field of communicable disease control, my vision can be summarized as follows.

1. Whenever feasible, deadly and disfiguring diseases should be eliminated or eradicated (e.g. measles elimination); where this is not fully feasible, we should aim for expanding disease-free areas (such as the malaria-free Arabian peninsula).

2. Every child should receive a safe vaccine for every childhood vaccine-preventable disease so that no child will die from a vaccine preventable disease in our Region.

3. Surveillance and rapid response to epidemic-prone emerging infections should be strengthened through preparedness plans, and transparency is the sure way to contain health threats.

The community-based initiatives approach, or reaching health goals through full partnership with the community, is one of our flagship initiatives in the Region. I will continue to support this initiative to ensure that all countries adopt and accelerate the implementation of this concept in the format and shape that fit their needs.

Over the coming five years of my term, one of my commitments will be to build, strengthen and sustain knowledge-based primary health care support in the Region. I believe that utilization of public health knowledge, before people get sick and before diseases strike, is the best way to protect the health of the people, particularly women and children. I will continue to work, with my teams at the Regional and country offices and the whole WHO family in Headquarters and other regions, in collaboration with Member States to produce health information materials that meet the needs of the people, in languages they understand and in formats they can easily use.

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Moving the Organization into a learning organization is an objective that is well- rooted in the Region through our initiatives to build public health knowledge management capacity and infrastructure and to develop a regional knowledge management strategy. Our goal is to make sure that we utilize our human capital and its intellectual power to the maximum. I will make all efforts to ensure that we build communities of public health practitioners who are capable of meeting the challenges of primary health care and health for all strategies. We fully recognize the need for more and better human resources in health. At the same time, we recognize that the full potential of our human resources has not been fully used. I will work with all partners to reach that potential.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

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