Hajj is one of the largest Mass Gathering religious event in the world in Saudi Arabia. Every year, more than two million pilgrims from all over the world gather in the Holy city of Makkah, and perform hajj. These pilgrims may be vulnerable to various health conditions as a result of close contacts and crowdedness. Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia is always committed to provide state of art health services to the pilgrims.
Since the beginning of the Program, FETP is regularly participating in the Hajj. Each year epidemiological team of FETP comprising of faculty members and DFE residents, as part of the preventive medicine team of MOH visit Makkah and Minna. The team conduct field studies and participate in epidemiologic investigation and surveillance of health problems during hajj.
Hajj studies are designed in line with the experiences acquired during previous hajj seasons. The aim of these studies is to prevent the appearance of certain epidemic diseases and evaluate variety of preventive health services in Hajj. Plans are made in collaboration with other involved governmental authorities to apply the recommendations of the studies in future hajj seasons, and to supervise their effectiveness.
This year 1438H, a number of the epidemiological studies were conducted during the Hajj periods and are in the process completion. The preparation of these studies starts many months before the actual Hajj event. The proposal for these studies pass through series of presentation and discussions by the faculty and residents of FETP. After finalization and formal approval by the faculty and other concerned authorities, the studies are conducted during the Hajj.