Malaria and complex emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (Editorial).

The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) has made substantial progress toward reducing its malaria burden since 2000. During 2007-2015, two of the five countries certified as malaria free were in the EMR (United Arab Emirates, 2007 and Morocco, 2010). Three of the 13 countries that reported zero indigenous cases in 2014 were from EMR (Iraq, Oman and Syrian Arab Republic). Efforts are still needed to: reduce the malaria burden in the six endemic countries (Afghanistan, Djibouti, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen); support the immediate needs for elimination in Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran; and prevent the re-introduction of malaria across 14 countries that have been malaria free since the 1970s.