EMPHNET, in partnership with the Middle East Council on Global Affairs and Nazarbayev University School of Medicine, and with support from the Wellcome Trust, convened the Middle East and Central Asia Regional Workshop on Global Health Reform in Amman, Jordan from October 22 to 23, 2025.

Organized under the Wellcome Trust’s Global Health Reform initiative, the two-day workshop brought together over 40 senior stakeholders and experts from across the Middle East and Central Asia to reimagine and strengthen the global health architecture from a regional perspective. Participants represented policymaking bodies, international and regional organizations, civil society, and academia.

A Platform for Regional Dialogue

Structured around three framing questions: Where are we now?, What should the architecture look like?, and How can we get there?, the workshop provided a space for open and inclusive dialogue. Participants assessed the current global health architecture, envisioned a more equitable and responsive system, and proposed actionable recommendations for reform.

Over two days, participants engaged in plenary discussions, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions to examine the region’s experiences with global health governance and financing. The workshop promoted inclusive participation, ensuring that voices from across the region were fully represented.

Discussions underscored the importance of coherent governance structures, sustainable financing models, and stronger mechanisms for regional collaboration that reflect the priorities and realities of Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries.

Key Themes Emerging from the Regional Dialogue

The workshop drew on the findings of comprehensive regional consultations that captured perspectives from across the Middle East and Central Asia through 47 key informant interviews and a survey of 248 respondents.

Participants identified a number of systemic challenges within the global health architecture, including donor dependence and inefficiency, power imbalances in global decision-making, fragmented vertical programs, and limited national technical capacity. Many emphasized that global health governance remains dominated by actors from the Global North, with insufficient representation from regions such as MECA.

The dialogue also revealed a shared regional vision for reform grounded in solidarity, accountability, and equity. These insights provided the foundation for discussions during the workshop, allowing regional experts to translate consultation findings into concrete reform pathways.

Shared Commitment to Reform

In his remarks, Dr. Mohannad Al Nsour, Executive Director of EMPHNET, stated:

“This workshop has demonstrated the power of regional collaboration in shaping the future of global health. The insights and recommendations generated here reflect our shared commitment to practical, context-driven solutions that can make a real difference on the global stage”.

Prof. Yousef Khader, Director of the Center of Excellence for Applied Epidemiology at EMPHNET, added:

“This open dialogue has produced a clear set of regional priorities and reform pathways grounded in local realities. These outcomes will not only guide the region’s contributions to the global reform agenda but also strengthen cross-country collaboration for more resilient health systems.”

Representatives from the Wellcome Trust, the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, and Nazarbayev University School of Medicine also contributed to the discussions, emphasizing the value of regional perspectives in shaping global reform processes.

Moving Forward

By the end of the workshop, participants reached a shared understanding of the region’s top priorities for global health reform and identified both consensus-driven recommendations and context-specific challenges, mainly focusing on further collaboration to strengthen the voice of the MECA region on the global level. They also agreed on a set of reform pathways to contribute to impactful changes in the global health architecture for the future.

This workshop stands as an important milestone in the region’s engagement with the global reform agenda. By fostering shared understanding and collective ownership of reform priorities, this initiative lays the foundation for a more inclusive and accountable global health, one that truly reflects the voices and contexts of the Middle East and Central Asia.

Building on the collective insights shared, the outcomes of this workshop will be translated into actionable governance priorities and reflected in the Regional Outcome Paper on Global Health Reform which is a key step toward advancing a more inclusive and responsive global health system.