Bahrain’s integrated approach to primary healthcare, advanced digital technology, and community-led health initiatives serve as a vital blueprint for regional and international health-system transformation, according to Dr Hanan Balkhy, Saudi Arabia’s candidate for Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In an exclusive interview with the Gulf Daily News (GDN), Dr Balkhy – a decorated paediatrician, infectious disease specialist and current WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean – highlighted the kingdom’s progress while detailing her campaign platform for the UN’s top health post ahead of the 2027 election.
Drawing on over three decades of clinical practice, national health governance and multilateral leadership, Dr Balkhy outlined a vision centred on restoring global trust, elevating country-led priorities and establishing sustainable frameworks to tackle emergent health crises.
Addressing Bahrain’s healthcare evolution, Dr Balkhy emphasised that the kingdom’s success lies in connecting technology with systemic public health outcomes rather than adopting innovation in isolation.
“What stands out to me about Bahrain is not the use of technology for technology’s sake, but how innovation can be connected to a wider health system to deliver better outcomes for people,” she said. “Bahrain combines strong primary healthcare with investment in digital health, data, preparedness and advanced technologies. That matters because the real test of innovation is whether it improves access, quality, efficiency or health outcomes.”
This holistic approach is equally evident in Bahrain’s leadership within the WHO’s Healthy Cities Programme. Manama became the region’s first designated Healthy Capital in 2021 before the kingdom expanded the framework across all four governorates.
“That is ‘Health in All Policies’ in practice: ministries, governorates and communities working to the same standards, from environmental health to emergency preparedness,” Dr Balkhy added. While digital systems can assist health workers in early identification, disease surveillance and care integration, she cautioned that ‘technology must support strong institutions and a strong health workforce; it cannot substitute for them’.
In this regard, Bahrain continues to serve as an international model through its investment in health workforce education, hosting the Eastern Mediterranean Region’s first WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Development to facilitate country-to-country expertise exchange.
Dr Balkhy’s nomination by Saudi Arabia marks a significant milestone for the Arab world, where candidates from the Global North have historically dominated leadership positions in international bodies.
Reflecting on her career path – from bedside paediatrics to national health leadership, WHO headquarters, and becoming the first woman elected Regional Director for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region – she expressed hope that her journey serves as an inspiration for young women across the region.
“If that journey tells a young woman somewhere in the Arab world that there should be no ceiling on what she can contribute to medicine or global health, that is something I would be very proud of,” she said. However, Dr Balkhy emphasised that her candidacy rests on more than symbolism: “I am running because I have spent more than three decades building institutions, leading through crises, bringing countries together and delivering results. That is the experience I would bring to WHO.”
If elected Director-General in 2027, Dr Balkhy has pledged to restructure the WHO’s relationship with its 194 member states around the foundational principle that ‘countries lead, WHO listens and enables’.
In her first 100 days, her priority will be to systematically listen to every member state and align the three levels of the organisation – country, regional and headquarters – behind clearly agreed national priorities. “The objective is not a smaller WHO for the sake of it,” she added. “It is a more focused and responsive WHO, with more authority and capability closer to countries and clearer accountability for results.”
This structural shift goes hand-in-hand with rebuilding global public trust following the unprecedented scrutiny faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Trust cannot be demanded. It has to be earned – and re-earned – with every decision, and with two audiences at once: member states and the public,” Dr Balkhy added. “When we issue guidance, assess a health threat or recommend action, governments, health professionals and the public should be able to see the best available scientific evidence behind that decision and understand why it was taken.”
To safeguard this process, she committed to protecting the WHO’s technical experts from political interference while keeping technical engagement open and inclusive across all member states.
Her platform also addresses critical, ongoing global health threats, including Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), which she termed a defining issue of her career. Having previously served as the WHO’s first Assistant Director-General for AMR, she emphasised the need to move from recognition to delivery through a global ‘One Health’ approach that bridges human health, animal health, agriculture, and the environment.
Tackling ‘superbugs’ requires stronger surveillance, stewardship and reliable access to diagnostics, alongside confronting ‘the economic reality that the traditional pharmaceutical model does not provide sufficient incentives to develop medicines that, by definition, we want used sparingly’.
Drawing on her frontline experience managing the MERS-CoV outbreak in the Middle East, Dr Balkhy was adamant over future responses: “The biggest mistake we can make is to begin preparing for an emergency only after it has arrived,” she said.
Global health security depends on national capacity established long before a crisis arrives, requiring rapid, rules-based responses insulated from political pressure. Similarly, she argued that climate-driven risks such as heatwaves and water scarcity should no longer be treated as a specialist side agenda, but integrated directly into core health planning: “WHO’s role should be practical – translating global evidence into country-specific action and helping health systems become more resilient to the conditions they will face tomorrow, not simply those they were designed for yesterday.”
Addressing the severe health disparities caused by conflicts and economic crises across the Global South, Dr Balkhy stressed that universal health coverage must mean ‘UHC delivered, not just declared’.
True health equity requires measuring whether populations can access essential services and primary care free from financial hardship, particularly in fragile or conflict-affected settings where averages often hide those left furthest behind. In these environments, she maintains that the WHO cannot choose between emergency response and long-term health-system strengthening, but must protect immediate services while building enduring local institutions.
Concluding her message to the Gulf region and the international community, Dr Balkhy noted that the Gulf states have evolved into vital contributors of global health solutions, research and regulatory frameworks.
While expressing pride in the region’s transformation, she reiterated that her candidacy remains dedicated to all member states. “Health threats do not respect borders, political divisions or levels of income. No country can protect its people alone,” she said. “That is why I am running: to help build a WHO the world can count on – built on trust, driven by impact, and measured by value.”
avinash@gdnmedia.bh
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