Cancer cells in a living tissue with 400 times magnification.
The WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean concluded its sixty-fourth session in Islamabad today with the approval of a number of decisions affecting the health of the population in the countries of the region.
The Commission has issued a resolution on cancer as the second leading cause of death globally. It is estimated that, by 2030, the Eastern Mediterranean Region will see the largest increase in the cancer burden among all six regions of WHO.
In the final decisions, according to a statement posted on the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, the members endorsed the Regional Framework for Cancer Prevention and Control to advance advice to member countries in support of international commitments and national decision-making on policy options and priority interventions to prevent Cancer and fight it according to the national context.
The decisions also addressed climate change as one of the greatest global health threats of the 21st century, and has serious, though preventable, health effects and accelerated mortality rates, particularly among at-risk groups.
In the area of adolescent and adolescent health, the Regional Committee expressed its appreciation for the health mainstreaming model, which was designed to help countries measure and evaluate behavioral risk factors and adolescent protection factors as an important policy-making tool.
The Regional Committee adopted a resolution on the problem of microbial resistance to antibiotics, in which it urged Member States to develop and adopt national action plans to solve the problem, allocate adequate resources for their implementation, and develop and enforce policies and regulations to prevent the acquisition of over-the-counter antimicrobials.
The Eastern Mediterranean region includes Jordan, Afghanistan, the UAE, Pakistan, Bahrain, Tunisia, Libya, Iran, Syria, Djibouti, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
It is noted that the next session of the Regional Committee will be held in the Sudanese capital Khartoum from 15-18 October 2018.