Globally and regionally, hospitals absorb around 50%–70% of total government health expenditure, employ a large workforce and make extensive use of sophisticated biomedical technology. Improvement of hospital performance as part of improving overall health system performance is high on the reform agenda of countries in the Region. This paper raises awareness of the gaps in hospital performance ...

Since 1997, when the goal of interrupting measles transmission by 2010 was adopted, substantial progress has been made toward the elimination of measles in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). For the 22 EMR member countries, routine coverage with the first dose of a measles-containing vaccine (MCV) increased from 70% in 1997 to 82% in 2009. All 22 countries conducted measles catch-up vaccin...

An analysis of suicide and homicide rates was made for countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region using global burden disease data for 2000. The suicide/homicide ratio by age, sex and country level of income was calculated by dividing the suicide rate by the sum of the suicide and homicide rate. Males were more often victims of homicide whilst females were more often victims of suicide. For ...

BACKGROUND Although the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) healthcare sector has been expanding rapidly, many differences exist across socioeconomic status, clinical practice standards and healthcare systems. OBJECTIVE Predict production functions of health by measuring socioeconomic and expenditure factors that impact life expectancy in the EMR. METHODS Data from the World Health Organizat...

BACKGROUND This article aims at providing an overview of the current epidemiological situation in the heterogeneous Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). It is one in a series of eight articles appointed by the International Epidemiological Association to improve the epidemiological situation. METHODS Several resources were used to extract morbidity, mortality and risk factors data that contrib...

This paper reviews global data on caesarean section (CS) focusing on Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries for which data could be obtained. CS rates in the EMR tend to average around 10%. The data, however, are often not representative of the whole country, being mostly hospital rather than community based. Global and regional CS trends, determinants, and outcomes are presented. Controv...

The foundations of ethical principles in the Eastern Mediterranean Region can be found within the 3 major religions of the Region; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Today, there are numerous ethical issues that have emerged as result of the technological advances of the 20th century and this paper addresses some of those related to biomedical research. The Islamic principles in relation to medic...

Background The blue shark (Prionace glauca, Linnaeus 1758) is one of the most abundant epipelagic shark inhabiting all the oceans except the poles, including the Mediterranean Sea, but its genetic structure has not been confirmed at basin and interoceanic distances. Past tagging programs in the Atlantic Ocean failed to find evidence of migration of blue sharks between the Mediterranean and the ...

As we mark World Hepatitis Day on 28 July, our attention naturally focuses on the relentless battle to eliminate viral hepatitis from populations suffering under the heavy toll of this communicable disease. The theme for World Hepatitis Day this year is “Eliminate Hepatitis”. Currently an estimated 325 million people worldwide are living with chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus infection. ...

In 1997, the 22 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) adopted a goal of measles elimination by 2010. To achieve this goal, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) developed a four-pronged strategy: 1) achieve ≥ 95% vaccination coverage of children with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) in every district ...