The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in strengthening health systems, building the capacities of the healthcare staff, supporting the adoption of digital technologies, and exchanging experiences and knowledge to support the efforts of the countries of the Islamic world to prepare for and build resilience to natural disasters and every threat to the health of individuals.

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General, and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, signed the agreement, on Tuesday (March 26, 2024), at the World Health Organization headquarters, in Geneva, in the presence of Mr. Anar Karimov, Head of Partnerships and Cooperation Sector at ICESCO, and Dr. Hanan Balkhi, Regional Director, Eastern Mediterranean Region at the World Health Organization, as well as a number of officials of the Organization.

Afterwards, Dr. AlMalik highlighted the importance of the partnership between ICESCO and the World Health Organization to promote health and serve the countries of the Islamic world, and stressed that many initiatives, programs and activities will be devised to achieve equality and equity in the field of health services and adopt modern technologies, lauding the cooperation relations with the WHO Academy Education.

For his part, WHO Director-General commended ICESCO’s efforts in its areas of competence, stressing his keenness to continue cooperation between the two parties with the view of developing joint health programs to enhance health services.

The MoU aims to establish a cooperation framework that promotes the health-related SDGs of the 2030 Agenda and benefits vulnerable groups in such a way as to contribute to meeting the health needs of refugees and migrants, and supporting the efforts of the States members of the two Organizations in addressing health challenges, taking into account the cultural specificities of ICESCO Member States to achieve an effective response to emergency situations in line with the values and principles of these countries.

The MoU sets forth cooperation in the field of health by strengthening health systems, disease prevention and treatments to contribute to achieving health security in societies, building the capacities of the health workforce, reinforcing information systems, ensuring the adequacy and efficiency of mobilizing resources to confront diseases, improving the quality of maternal and child health care, developing a healthy lifestyle through proper hygiene and sanitation systems, and promoting mental health and primary health care services.