Wednesday, 25 May 2022

WHA Highlights

The 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) continues today in Palais des Nations in Geneva, with all the sessions webcast live.  The provisional agenda can be accessed here.  Working hours are from 09:00 to 12:00 and from 14:30 to 17:30 CEST. There will be no evening session.  

The WHA will meet today in Committee A and Committee B and in General Committee. The detailed programme of work can be found in the Daily Journal N°4, which is available in six languages of the United Nations.

Highlights of the day

COMMITTEE A

• Strengthening WHO preparedness for and response to health emergencies will be discussed at 9 am CEST in Committee A in item 16.2. This includes a paper on Strengthening WHO preparedness for and response to health emergencies (A75/20). Item 16.4  discussion concerns Implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005) related to Document A75/22. Committee A discussions take place in Building E Room XX.
• The road map 2023–2030 for the global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases will resume discussions in Committee A (Item 14.1).

COMMITTEE B

• In Committee B, Prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (Documents A75/29 and A75/50) will be disscussed in Building E Room XVII.  
• Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan (Documents A75/26, A75/B/CONF./1 AND A75/B/CONF./1 Add.1) will take place in Committee B at 2:30 pm CEST.

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WHA75 Strategic Round Table

“Radical reorientation of health systems towards primary health care as the foundation of universal health coverage: The best and only choice to achieve universal health coverage,” will be held from 13:00 to 14:30 CEST in Room XXVI and will be livestreamed.  

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Media resources

• Detailed programme of work can be found in the Daily Journal in six UN languages.  The provisional agenda and Assembly documents can be accessed here.
• The process and the documents concerning the election process for the WHO Director-General
• The WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the 75th World Health Assembly on 22 May and on 23 May 2022
• Photos: The World Health Assembly 75 and Walk the Talk 2022 photo libraries will be regularly updated with new images.  A selection of general images is available to view and download without registration.  There are additional images available for media upon registration. For media registration: click on https://photos.hq.who.int/galleries/browse/photos-for-media?content=any; Select “Media registration”; Register as “client”; Category: “media”.  For questions related to photography contact photos@who.int 

LATEST PRESS RELEASES

World Health Assembly re-elects Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to second term as WHO Director-General

World Health Assembly agrees historic decision to sustainably finance WHO

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Details on WHA75 Strategic Round Table, 13:00 to 14:30 CEST in Room XXVI (livestream)

The roundtable “Radical reorientation of health systems towards primary health care as the foundation of universal health coverage: The best and only choice to achieve universal health coverage” will focus on the radical reorientation of health systems towards primary health care (PHC) as the foundation for universal health coverage (UHC). 

The unprecedented COVID pandemic global crisis has been an eye-opener to the world with millions of lives lost and major socio-economic disruptions made. It has exposed the limitations of most health systems. In response to the crisis, a WHO position paper was released in October 2021, “Building health systems resilience towards UHC and health security during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.” 

We will hear from the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and others on the reasons why a radical reorientation of health systems toward PHC is crucial. Speakers include:

• Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Deputy Director-General
• Dr Christopher Tufton, Minister of Health, Jamaica
• Dr Wilhemina Jallah, Minister of Health, Liberia
• Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region
• Dr Janet Muriuki, Senior director of health workforce development, INTRAHEALTH
• Dr Atul Gawande, Assistant Administrator for Global Health, USAID
• Dr Feng Zhao, Practice Manager at Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank
• Dr Carissa Etienne, Regional Director AMRO/PAHO