Crescent moon sighted, start of Ramadan on Saturday in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH: King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman donated a total of SAR150 million to the second Jood Regions Campaign, launched on the occasion of the advent of Ramadan.
The SAR100 million from the king and SAR50 million from the crown prince is in support of housing programs and initiatives aimed at providing homes for needy families in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday.

Minister of Municipalities and Housing Majed Al-Hogail expressed gratitude for the support, emphasizing its significant impact on the families' quality of life and stability.

“This will have a tremendous and effective impact on providing suitable housing units for the needy families within the Jood Regions Campaign during the month of Ramadan,” he said.

The Jood Regions campaign was first launched during Ramadan 2024 by the non-profit Housing Development Organization “Sakan” to provide more than 10,000 housing units for the most needy families across the Kingdom's 13 provinces. 

The campaigns include events to raise awareness and encourage community participation. Organized by local authorities, the campaigns bring together entrepreneurs, leaders, and others to ensure citizens get suitable housing with ease and reliability, fulfilling the goals of developmental housing initiatives.
 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has strengthened its efforts to combat Yemen’s ongoing cholera crisis with a new $2 million cooperation agreement between the Saudi aid agency KSrelief and the World Health Organization.

Signed during the fourth annual Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum, the agreement was formalized by Ahmed bin Ali Al-Baiz, KSrelief’s assistant supervisor for operations and programs, and Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the regional director of WHO, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

This latest contribution raises Saudi Arabia’s total financial support for cholera response efforts in Yemen to $5 million.

The funding will be used to provide hospitals and health centers with essential medical supplies, including medicines, intravenous solutions, and antibiotics. In addition to medical aid, the initiative will support environmental sanitation, water management, and community education programs.

The agreement will also boost vaccination campaigns led by WHO aimed at curbing the spread of the disease.

Yemen has been grappling with one of the world’s worst cholera outbreaks since the beginning of the country’s civil war in 2014.

The country’s fragile healthcare system, which has been devastated by years of war, has struggled to contain repeated waves of the disease.

Cholera, which spreads through contaminated water and food, has infected over 2 million people in Yemen since 2017, with thousands of deaths recorded, many of them children.