Addressing women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health in conflict settings in the Middle East and neighbouring countries

Overview

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is a diverse region comprising 21-member states and occupied Palestinian territory (including East Jerusalem). It accounts for approximately 745 million people. Spanning from Middle East and North Africa to Pakistan in Southern Asia to Somalia in Eastern and Southern Africa, this expanded regional classification contains some of the richest and poorest countries in the world. Nine EMR countries are listed in the World Bank’s 2023 list of fragile and conflict-affected countries. Six countries experienced violent conflicts in 2021 and many other countries in this region have also experienced some form of crisis in the past few decades. Since 2014 there have been more than 100,000 conflict-related deaths per year in this region. Almost two-thirds of all refugees worldwide originate from countries in the EMR.