Mutlaq and Abdullah are Saudi UN Volunteers on parallel journeys, turning national expertise into global experience through the fully funded partnership between UNV and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Economy and Planning.

In 1999, a cyclone struck Odisha in eastern India.Mukeshkumar Prajapati was thousands of kilometers away in Jamnagar, Gujarat, completing his medical training in pediatrics. When a call went out for medical specialists willing to help, he volunteered. His dean hesitated to send him alone. Mukesh never made the trip. But something had already revealed itself, something that would repeatedly shape the next quarter-century of his life—the impulse to step forward.

The WHO South-East Asia Region has over the years welcomed new cohorts of skilled and motivated volunteers, working alongside staff, Ministries of Health and partners across a wide range of technical and operational functions that reflect the breadth of WHO’s work.