Hajj and Health Services in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

For five days, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted the Hajj, the world's largest annual religious pilgrimage, where people from over 180 countries converged on Mecca with more than 2.371 million hajjis. Naturally, health is a primary concern for the Kingdom’s authorities.

Ensuring that the Kingdom is prepared to contain the spread of infectious disease and maintain public well-being during this significant mass gathering is an immense challenge for the Saudis. There has been major progress over the past 30 years in Saudi Arabia and in pilgrimage countries regarding health quality control with a pilgrim quota perhaps growing to three million hajjis by 2020.