The
Sixty-eighth session of the World Health Assembly kicked off in Geneva on 18
May 2015 and ends on 26 May. Officials from 194 Member States have begun their
annual review of the activities of WHO and set new priorities for the future.
The
World Health Assembly is attended by delegates from WHO Member States as well
as representatives from many agencies, organizations, foundations and other
groups that contribute to improving public health. Member States approve
resolutions in committee before formally adopting them in the plenary session
at the end of the Health Assembly.
Angela
Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany addressed delegates on
the first morning of the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly. "The WHO is
the only international organization that has universal political legitimacy on
global health issues," she said.
In the afternoon, WHO
Director-General Dr Margaret Chan outlined her plans to create a single new WHO
program for health emergencies, uniting outbreak and emergency resources across
the 3 levels of the Organization. “I have heard what the world expects from
WHO,” said Dr Chan. “And we will deliver.”
Dr Margaret Chan is the
Director-General of WHO, appointed by the World Health Assembly on 9 November
2006. The Assembly appointed Dr Chan for a second five-year term at its
sixty-fifth session in May 2012.
The new program will be
accountable to the Director-General, and will have its own business rules and
operational platforms. It will have clear performance metrics, built on
partnerships with other responders. It will set up a new global health
emergency workforce, as well as strengthening its own core and surge capacity
of trained emergency response staff. The Organization is calling for a new
USD100 million contingency fund. The Director-General plans to complete these
changes by the end of the year.
Dr Chan reiterated Chancellor
Merkel’s points about the importance of building resilient health systems and
defeating antimicrobial resistance, citing the "specter of a
post-antibiotic era in which common infections will once again kill," and
urging delegates to adopt the draft global action plan on antimicrobial
resistance on this year’s Health Assembly agenda."
She also noted the need to ensure
that the International Health Regulations, the world’s legal instruments for
outbreak preparedness and response, are effective. She urged delegates to ready
themselves for the post-2015 development agenda and to ensure that health
receives the attention, and the resources it needs: "The goals are
ambitious. Financing plans must likewise be ambitious but credible."
Dr Chan also encouraged Member
States to align in preparation for the Climate Conference in Paris at the end
of the year, pointing out that health had remained on the side lines of this
critical issue for too long.
This year's health Assembly is
attended by at least 3,300 participants from WHO's 194 Member States including
a large proportion of the world’s health ministers. The attendees will discuss
resolutions and decision points on antimicrobial resistance, Ebola, epilepsy,
the International Health Regulations, malaria, nutrition, polio, public health,
innovation, and intellectual property, substandard/spurious/falsely-labeled/falsified/counterfeit
medical products, surgical care and anesthesia.
Delegates will be asked to
approve the Organization’s planned budget and program of work for 2016-2017.
They will also review progress reports on a wide range of issues such as
adolescent health, immunization, noncommunicable diseases, women and health,
and WHO’s response in severe, large-scale emergencies.
For the full speech of WHO
Director-General please click here
Dr. Shima Naghavi, Director of
International Affairs