The 79th World Health Assembly will be held from May 18 to 23 in Geneva against the backdrop of global financial constraints and the need to continue progress towards health for all, the World Health Organization said in a statement.
Member States are expected to adopt decisions and resolutions on a wide range of priority health issues, setting the direction of global health action and strengthening the implementation of the WHO Global Health Strategy 2025-2028.
The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations health agency, the World Health Organization, and is composed of health ministers from 194 countries.
Global health system reform
The Health Assembly will focus on the future of the global health architecture and decide whether to launch a new Member State-led process to reform the global health system, in line with UN reform efforts, and strengthen coordination among actors.
Formulating health policy and responding to health emergencies
Member States will take decisions on key health policy frameworks, including the Post-2030 TB Strategy, the Health Economics for All Strategy, the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, and Integrated Emergency, Critical and Surgical Care.
Countries are expected to consider decisions related to precision medicine, intelligent pharmacovigilance, reducing the burden of stroke, hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, as well as strengthening the WHO Global Code of Practice on International Recruitment of Health Workers, among others.
The Health Assembly will also examine the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005) and WHO’s work in health emergencies.
Budget, finance and constitutional matters
Member States will address budgetary and financial issues, including the results report 2024-2025, and the financing and implementation of the program budget 2026-2027. They will also review the status of collection of assessed contributions and consider constitutional issues relating to WHO membership.
There are approximately 70 items and sub-items under consideration on the agenda of this year’s Health Assembly.
Among others, the election of officers of the 79th World Health Assembly, the presidential address, the speech of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and the general debate under the theme “Reshaping global health: a shared responsibility” are likely to take place on the opening day of the Health Assembly on Monday.
