WHO global network expands digital health certification for Hajj pilgrims
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced a new milestone digital health collaboration today to expand the Hajj health card initiative to support the roughly three million pilgrims who undertake the holy pilgrimage every year.
The Hajj health card, built on the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network’s public key infrastructure, summarises critical health information, such as medication needs, allergies, immunisation status and pre-existing conditions. The card gives individuals agency over their health information when they travel to Saudi Arabia so that they can provide authorised health providers access to accurate, up-to-date patient summary information and obtain personalised quality care.
“Today marks a notable progress in WHO’s support to Member States to expand access to safer and person-centred digital health tools for people to improve their access to quality health care when and where they need it,” said Dr Jeremy Farrar, WHO Chief Scientist. “We are thankful for the excellent collaboration with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, participating countries, and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and look forward to further support building capacity and infrastructure in countries shifting to more digitised health systems.”
The Hajj is the largest pilgrimage in the world, drawing almost 3 million pilgrims from over 180 countries every year. Over 250,000 pilgrims from 3 countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Oman, were issued Hajj health cards in 2024 as part of the pilot collaboration between WHO and Saudi Arabia. This test phase demonstrated that each country was able to use global standards to issue its national versions of the card, enhancing the pilgrims’ safety and quality of care while undertaking the Hajj.