WHO and Saudi Arabia announce new digital health collaboration to support Hajj pilgrims

The The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today announced a new digital health collaboration milestone to expand the Hajj Health Card initiative to support the approximately 3 million pilgrims who they make the sacred pilgrimage every year.

The Hajj Health Card, based on the public key infrastructure of the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network, summarizes critical health information such as medication needs, allergies, immunization status and pre-existing conditions. The card gives individuals agency over their own health information when traveling to Saudi Arabia so they can provide authorized health care providers with access to accurate and up-to-date patient summary information and receive quality personalized care.

Today marks a significant step forward in WHO’s support to Member States to expand access to safer and more person-centred digital health tools for people to improve their access to quality health care when and where they need it . We are grateful for the excellent collaboration with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the participating countries and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and we look forward to continuing to support capacity building and infrastructure in countries moving to more digitized health systems.”

Dr. Jeremy Farrar, WHO Chief Scientist

The Hajj is the world’s largest pilgrimage, with nearly 3 million pilgrims from over 180 countries each year. More than 250,000 pilgrims from 3 countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Oman, received Hajj health cards in 2024, as part of 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 card, improving the security and quality of care for pilgrims while performing the Hajj.

WHO and Saudi Arabia agreed to further collaborate to improve and expand the successful pilot program for the Hajj Health Card. The expertise and support of the Saudi government and its digital implementation partner LEAN, will enable 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 improves the safety and well-being of millions of pilgrims,” ​​said Dr. Hanan Balkhy, Regional Director of the WHO for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO). “By leveraging 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 joined the WHO Digital Health Certification Network

WHO launched the Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN) in 2023 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 systems to verify the authenticity of health information among themselves, leveraging a new global ISO standard, IPS – International Patient Summary.

The GDHCN is based on a robust public key infrastructure (PKI) encryption system that keeps health credentials verifiable and secure, allowing national authorities and health providers to trust the authenticity of health documents through borders without compromising individual privacy.

The initiative aims to deliver a digital health future where people can carry internationally recognized healthcare credentials to improve travel and access to healthcare. This allows greater access and control for individuals over their health information with the ability to select 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 healthcare collaboration, enabling future use cases such as cross-border e-prescribing, insurance and even telemedicine.