Early 2012, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMR) worked with Member States to reach consensus on the key health challenges that would be the focus of joint work over the course of the next five years. Five strategic priorities were identified and were subsequently endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, which is the WHO governing body at the regional level, at its 59th session in October 2012 (1). These were health system strengthening, maternal and child health, prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, health security and the unfinished agenda of communicable diseases, and emergency preparedness and response.