WHO Global Network Expands Digital Health Certification for Hajj Pilgrims

The The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today announced a new milestone in digital health collaboration to expand the Hajj Health Card initiative to support the approximately 3 million pilgrims who embark on the holy pilgrimage each year.

The Hajj Health Card, built on the public key infrastructure of the World Health Organization's Global Digital Health Certificate Network, summarizes critical health information, such as medication needs, allergies, immunization status and pre-existing conditions. The card entitles individuals to their own health information when traveling to Saudi Arabia to enable authorized healthcare providers to access accurate, up-to-date patient summary information and receive personalized quality care.

“Today marks notable progress in WHO's support to Member States to expand access to safer, person-centred digital health tools to improve people's access to quality healthcare when and where they need it,” said Dr Jeremy Farrar, WHO Chief Scientist- and. . “We are grateful for the excellent collaboration with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, participating countries and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and we look forward to further supporting capacity and infrastructure building in countries transitioning to more digitized health systems.”

The Hajj is the largest pilgrimage in the world, which attracts almost 3 million pilgrims from over 180 countries every year. More than 250,000 pilgrims from 3 countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Oman, have received health cards for the 2024 Hajj, as part of a pilot collaboration between WHO and Saudi Arabia. This test phase showed that each country was able to use global standards to issue their own national versions of the ID card, increasing the safety of pilgrims and the quality of care while undertaking the Hajj.

WHO and Saudi Arabia have agreed to further collaborate to improve and scale up the successful Hajj health card pilot program. The expertise and support of the Saudi government and their LEAN digital implementation partners will provide increased data security and essential technical support to additional countries joining the Hajj health card program.

“This exciting partnership between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the World Health Organization to expand the Hajj Health Card initiative increases the safety and well-being of millions of pilgrims,” ​​said Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO). . “Using digital health solutions, we strengthen the quality of care and help strengthen health systems in the Eastern Mediterranean region and around the world.”

Eighty countries have joined the WHO Digital Health Certification Network

In 2023, WHO launched the Global Digital Health Certificate Network (GDHCN) based on successful collaboration with the European Union and other partner countries to support vaccination certificates against COVID-19. The GDHCN now includes more than 80 WHO Member States that have established mutual health information authentication systems, using the new global ISO standard, IPS – International Patient Summary.

GDHCN is based on a robust Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) encryption system that keeps health credentials verifiable and secure, enabling national authorities and healthcare providers to trust the authenticity of health documents across borders without compromising individual privacy.

The initiative aims to bring about a digital health future where people can carry internationally recognized health cards for improved travel and access to healthcare. This gives people greater access and control over their health information with the ability to choose and decide what health information should be shared when seeking care at home or abroad.

By joining the WHO certification network, countries can reduce administrative processes, making border controls more efficient and health visits better informed. The global network lays the groundwork for long-term improvements in international health cooperation, enabling future use cases such as cross-border e-prescriptions, insurance and even telemedicine.