Thursday, 27 May 2021

WHA briefing notes

Day 4 of the 74th World Health Assembly

The work of the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) continues today, in Committee A and in Committee B.  The morning session will run from 10 am to 1 pm CEST. The afternoon session will run from 2 pm to 5 pm CEST.

Detailed programme of work can be found in the Daily Journal N°4 in 6 UN languages.

Committee A

Issues on the agenda of the Committee A today (see details in the Daily Journal):

• Proposed programme budget 2022-2023 (Documents A74/5 Rev.1, A74/5 Add.1, A74/9 and A74/46) Sustainable financing (Documents A74/6 and A74/46)
• WHO results framework: an update (Documents A74/7, A74/8 and A74/47)
• Political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
• Oral health
• Expanding access to effective treatments for cancer and rare and orphan diseases, including medicines, vaccines, medical devices, diagnostics, assistive products, cell- and gene-based therapies and other health technologies; and improving the transparency of markets for medicines, vaccines, and other health products
• Integrated people-centred eye care, including preventable vision impairment and blindness
• Global action on patient safety
• Antimicrobial resistance
• Immunization Agenda 2030

The Committee will also consider two resolutions today:

• A74/A/CONF./4 on The role of the global coordination mechanism on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in WHO’s work on multistakeholder engagement for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases
• A74/A/CONF./5 on Reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases through strengthening prevention and control of diabetes

According to the Journal, discussions about Public health emergencies: preparedness and response and Mental health preparedness for and response to the COVID-19 pandemic will resume on Saturday 29 May in Committee A.

Committee B

Committee B will discuss several issues on managerial, administrative and governance matters, as follows:

• Update on the Infrastructure Fund
• Update on information management and technology
• Geneva buildings renovation strategy
• WHO transformation
• WHO reform:
  • WHO reform: governance
  • WHO reform: World health days
  • WHO reform: involvement of non-State actors in WHO’s governing bodies.

Strategic briefings

During the WHA 74, a series of Strategic Briefings are being held virtually, during which WHA delegates, experts from WHO, partner agencies, and civil society discuss current priorities and next solutions on these vital issues for global public health.

Strategic briefings run from 1.10 to 1.50 pm CEST and are live streamed.  The programme of briefings is available here. 

Today’s session is on Safe societies and environments for health: the path to build forward better, healthier and greener.

At least 50% of the global disease burden could be prevented by ensuring healthy environments and lifestyles in safe, supportive societies. This Strategic Briefing seeks to showcase country implementation of building safe societies to improve people’s health with the support of WHO and UN partners and in collaboration with civil society.

Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Environment, Climate Change and Health, will moderate the session, in which the speakers will be:

• Dr Tedros, WHO Director- General
• Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme
• Dr Ingrid Petersson, Director-General, Swedish Research Council Formas, Sweden
• Desmond Appiah, Chief Sustainability Advisor, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana
• Zoleka Mandela, Global Ambassador, Child Health Initiative
• Iris Blom, International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA)
• Dr Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe
• Q&A

Media contacts:
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