5th MENA Region Adolescent Health Conference

Dr. Hatim A. Omar retired as Professor of Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington until July 20, 2020 and served as founder and chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine and Young Parent Program from November 1998 until December 2018. Dr. Omar obtained his medical training at the Medical Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria, completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology from Second United City Hospital, Sofia, Bulgaria and Pediatrics from West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia and received postgraduate training in Adolescent Medicine at West Virginia University and Physiology at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. Dr. Omar is board certified in the areas of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. He is the founder & Chairman of the Stop Youth Suicide Campaign. He served as a member of the Executive committee of the Section on Adolescent Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Board of directors of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Dr. Omar has published extensively in all areas of care for adolescents in various peerreviewed scientific journals, books and many media outlets. He is on the editorial Board of the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, International Journal of Adolescent Medicine & Health, Child Health & Human Development and 4 other peer reviewed journals. Dr Omar has served as an ambassador for wellbeing of adolescents world wide and is highly regarded for his tireless volunteer work on behalf of adolescents. Dr. Omar is the recipient of: Founders of Adolescent Health Award: Community Leadership from the American Academy of Pediatrics: Section on Adolescent Health 2007; Special Achievement Award for bringing awareness to adolescent depression & suicide, American Academy of Pediatrics 2007;The Don Cantley Community Service award, Kentucky Pediatric Society 2007; SAAMY (Sexual Assault Awareness Month Award) for services to sexual abuse victims, presented by KY Association of Sexual Assault Programs 2007; Ohio Valley Society for Adolescent Medicine Award for dedication to adolescent health (for the Stop Youth Suicide Campaign) 2006; Commonwealth of Kentucky Governor's Award for Community Service and Volunteerism 2000; The William Lions Award, UK; Chairman’s Research Award, Chairman’s Teaching Award and the Miracle Maker Award in different years. He was recently appointed Kentucky Colonel, the highest civilian honor in the state.

Bassam Abu Hamad, a PhD holder, a professor of public health at the Al-Quds University, teaching and conducting research focusing on social services in the MENA region including in health, mental health, social protection and education for more than 35 years. Bassam contributed to publishing many reports, author or co-author of books and chapters in books. In the past 10 years, he published more than 35 articles and book chapters related to adolescents. Bassam has been trained in UK and worked with many international organizations. He contributed to large-scale international studies conducted in the Middle East, Liberia, Vietnam, Sir-Lanka Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

Shirley Mark Prabhu, Regional Health Specialist (Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health, Mental Health and HIV), UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office, Amman has over 24 years of experience in multicultural environments focusing on Adolescent Health and Development, Mental Health and HIV. Prior to joining the UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office, Shirley has served as the Adolescent Health and HIV Specialist with the UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Office (EAPRO), Bangkok since 2014 and also worked with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) on adolescents and youth health. She has played an instrumental role in initiating South-South/Triangular Cooperation between governments and has co-organized several learning exchanges on adolescent health/mental health and HIV for government representatives in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Central Asia.

Short Bio: Professor Sukaina Alzyoud is not only a researcher but also an entrepreneur. She has founded and co-founded several projects and start-ups that aim to advance youth lives. Her projects have been highly successful and have helped many individuals across different industries. Her entrepreneurial spirit has allowed her to turn her ideas into reality, and she continues to inspire others to do the same.

Rima Afifi is a professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, and Director of the Prevention Research Center for Rural Health (PRC-RH), College of Public Health, University of Iowa; and an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences, American university of Beirut. She engages in public health education, research and practice with intent to advance health equity and social justice. From this broad lens, she interrogates systems of oppression and othering that occurs at socio-ecological levels. Rima’s passion is to work with adolescents and young adults to craft environments conducive to their wellbeing. She is particularly interested in low resource settings and contexts of uncertainty, displacement or migration. Rima applies community-engaged research to equalize power, voice, and self determination of communities experiencing marginalization; uses frameworks and tools of implementation science; and emphasizes knowledge transfer to practice and policy.

Dr. Akihiro Seita, currently serving as the Director of Health for UNRWA, has been at the forefront of comprehensive primary health care delivery to 5.8 million Palestine refugees since 2011. Overseeing an operation with a $150 million budget, 3,000 staff, and 140 clinics, Dr. Seita has spearheaded vital health reforms. These reforms, centered on a family medicine approach, address pressing challenges such as non-communicable diseases, mental health, and reproductive health. A pivotal aspect of his leadership has been the digital transformation of the health sector, with the introduction of electronic medical records, telemedicine, and mobile health applications connecting all health centers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Seita played a crucial role in directing UNRWA's responses, working collaboratively with host governments to ensure that Palestine refugees had non-discriminatory access to diagnostic tools, treatments, and vaccines. In addition to his emphasis on primary health care, he has been instrumental in providing hospitalization support for financially constrained Palestine refugees, particularly in areas like Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. All of Dr. Seita's efforts in UNRWA are facilitated through extensive partnerships with UN agencies, host governments, civil society, and the private sector, underscoring his unwavering advocacy for the health of Palestine refugees. Before his tenure at UNRWA, between 2000 and 2010, Dr. Seita coordinated regional efforts against TB, AIDS, and malaria at the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. His role in managing challenges in complex regions like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia has been commendable. A recipient of numerous international awards, including the Princess Chichibu Memorial TB Award in 2014 and the Takemi Life Science Award in 2017, Dr. Seita is a medical graduate from Kochi Medical School in Japan and has also been a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Kim Beentjes is a technical officer working on child and adolescent health in humanitarian settings. She currently works within the Healthier Populations Department of the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO). Kim has a Bachelor Degree in Public Health and a double Master's in Public Policy and Human Development from the United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), Maastricht, the Netherlands. She has a background in research on eHealth interventions, gained during her time at the Amsterdam University Medical Center. Afterward, she joined the European Commission's department of International Partnerships (DG INTPA), where she focused on policy issues related to development cooperation, health, and socio-economic inequalities. She worked with NGOs in the Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone, and Moldova, gaining valuable experience in the humanitarian sector. Her work was focused on risk communication and community engagement, specifically related to COVID-19 vaccinations, sexual and reproductive health and rights, mother and child health, and monitoring and evaluation.

Dr. Dalia Boles is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine of Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. She holds M.D. & PhD in Epidemiology in 2011 & 2015 and Professional diploma in Total Quality Management in Health Care System from American University in Egypt 2020. She works as a Consultant for Child and Adolescent Health Unit in WHO-EMRO since September 2021. She acquired her training in basic and advanced Epidemiology from Erasmus school of Public Health, Netherlands and holds an international certificate for cancer registry from IARC- Lyon. She is known for her expertise as an epidemiologist in several national and international research projects with the National Population Council, Academy of Scientific Research and Pasteur Institute in France. Worked as Data Manager for National Cancer Registry Program in Ain Shams University Hospital. She also worked as monitoring and evaluation consultant in WHO Country office-Egypt, auditing the National HCV presidential screening initiative in the 27 governorates 2018-2019. Following the new concepts in global health, Dr. Dalia obtained an international training in ‘One Health and food safety’ from Maryland University in 2022. She has special interest in Migration and Humanitarian context effects on Health and participated in the EU project of migrants (EUNAM) as a member of the Egyptian public heath specialists’ team and acquired training courses in this area from the American University in Egypt 2014 and Humanitarian Leadership Academy with Save the Children Organization in 2023. Authored several publications, two of which were awarded Ain Shams publication prize and participated in UN reports.

Dr. Valentina Baltag is the head of the Adolescent and Young Adult Health unit in the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing in WHO’s HQ in Geneva. After a career in clinical practice and clinical research, she specialized in health systems management and public health issues in reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health. She worked in several countries in economic transition in the WHO European region including Central Asia, as well as in the WHO Regional Office for Europe. In her current position she focuses on developing standards, policies and strategies to strengthen governments’ response to achieve universal health coverage for world’s 1.2 billion adolescents, and technical assistance to Member States in evidence based planning of a multisectoral response for adolescent health. Dr. Baltag is a strong advocate for Making Every School a Health Promoting School, and have led the development of global guidance to support governments to strengthen health promoting education systems. She is the editor of the International handbook on adolescent health and development: The public health response, and authored book chapters and other publications on primary care organization, quality of care, school health and school health services, and well child care. She holds a PhD from the Medical University in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova and MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Christopher H. Herbst, PhD, is the World Bank's Program Leader for Human Development in the Gulf Region. He coordinates the Bank's engagement in health, education and social protection in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Previously he was a senior health specialist in the World Bank’s Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, leading the Bank's engagement in the health sector in Saudi Arabia. Prior to that Christopher worked in more than 25 low-, middle-, and high-income countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Christopher has published more than 100 research publications that focus on health systems strengthening, non-communicable diseases, health financing, service delivery- and health workforce issues. His academic background is in public health, political science and economics.

- Senior Lecturer of Health Behavior and Sexuality & Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, AUB - Clinical Associate of ObGyn Sexual health, Director of Women Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Program, American University of Beirut- Medical Center - Vice President of FIGO - Coordinator of the National Committee on Safe Motherhood, Lebanon - Chair of the “Middle East Sexual Health Group”- World Association of Sexual Health (WAS) - Member of the “Expert Consultative Group on sexual health” WHO- Geneva - Member of the Sexual Rights Committee, World Association of Sexual health - Member of the editorial board of SRHM journal - Author of many articles and chapters on maternal, reproductive and sexual health issues, as well as several editorials in local media

Dr. Mohmmad Abualrob, assistant Professor of digital media at Birzeit University, trainer in the field of digital reporting and social media management, advocacy campaigns and building communication strategies. He got his PHD in media from VIENNA University – Austria in 2013. Abualrob has more than 10 years' experience in consulting various international organizations.