11 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – A US$ 8 million grant agreement signed yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Japan will provide essential support for critically ill patients evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt for medical treatment. The agreement was signed by His Excellency Mr OKA Hiroshi, Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, and Dr Nima Abid, WHO Representative in Egypt. It was witnessed by Her Excellency Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, Egypt; Dr Hossam Abdelghaffar, Assistant to the Minister of Health and Population for Institutional Reform, Egypt; and Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. Under this agreement, WHO will work with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population to enhance the Egyptian health system’s readiness to accommodate medical evacuees. This includes ensuring that referral hospitals are adequately equipped with the necessary medicines, medical supplies and equipment, and will involve capacity-building for health staff to provide life-saving emergency care. “WHO is extremely grateful for the support provided by Egypt in accommodating critically ill patients from the Gaza Strip for treatment. Now, with this generous funding from the Government of Japan – a long-standing donor to WHO – we will be better able to support Egypt in ensuring continued, quality health care to critically ill and injured patients from the Gaza Strip,” said Dr Balkhy. The project will focus on locations designated by the Government of Egypt as referral pathways and receiving facilities for the evacuated patients. The first tier of referral comprises health facilities in North Sinai Governorate; the second tier includes health facilities in the governorates of Ismailia, Port Said and Suez; and the third tier encompasses health facilities in the Damietta, Greater Cairo and Sharqia governorates. Dr Abdel Ghaffar said, “The signed agreement will work to support the Ministry of Health and Population, through the provision of medical supplies, various surgical tools and artificial joints, and by increasing the number of beds and radiology devices, in addition to implementing training programmes to share experiences between medical staff, with the aim of contributing to Egypt’s efforts towards supporting sick and injured Palestinians.” Egypt has been receiving severely ill and injured patients from the Gaza Strip for treatment within Egypt or for referral to other countries since November 2023, providing free-of-charge medical treatments as necessary. “I am pleased that Japan can contribute to the efforts by the Government of Egypt and WHO on the frontline of humanitarian assistance to provide crucial medical treatment for Palestinian evacuees from Gaza. I strongly wish this medical support in partnership with Egypt and WHO will help cure the Palestinian patients and premature babies being treated in the hospitals in Egypt,” said H.E. Mr Hiroshi. Japan is an important partner for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, providing nearly US$ 160 million in contributions since 2016. This funding has mainly supported emergency and disease outbreak response efforts in more than 11 countries across the Region. For her part, H.E. Dr Al-Mashat expressed her appreciation to all parties and stressed that this partnership demonstrates Egypt’s continued role in providing all forms of support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as directed by President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Dr Al-Mashat also indicated that these partnerships reflect the distinct development cooperation relationships between Egypt and its international partners, which respond to development challenges and to regional and international developments in light of the country strategies and constructive partnerships that have continued for decades in the case of Japan. It is notable that this year marks 70 years since Egypt’s bilateral partnership with Japan began. Also, this partnership comes under the umbrella of implementing the strategic framework with the United Nations and its agencies for 2023–2027. “Collaborating with Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population, WHO will address the urgent medical needs of injured and severely ill patients by supporting surgical care, and medical treatment for communicable and noncommunicable diseases, as well as psychological trauma support and other critical medical interventions,” said Dr Abid. WHO estimates that in total, more than 8000 people who remain inside the Gaza Strip require medical evacuation – 6000 of whom have war-related injuries and 2000 of whom have needs linked to other medical conditions.