The 75th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO) was held from the 22nd to the 28th of May 2022 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Member State delegates, global health experts, and civil society representatives gathered in person in Geneva for the WHA. This year’s session of the WHA focused on the theme of “Health for Peace, Peace for Health.” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was re-elected as the Director-General of the WHO. WPA congratulates Dr Tedros for his re-election.
The Member States provided a path forward for sustainably financing the WHO as the countries made a historic decision to increase member dues, known as assessed contributions, to constitute 50% of WHO’s base budget by 2030-2031. The WPA also supported the WFPHA and other stakeholders statement supporting the adoption of a Pandemic Treaty founded upon the values of human rights, equity, and solidarity.
The Member States approved a record number of recommendations relating to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that includes the implementation of Roadmap 2023-2030 for the Who Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs:
- creation of global targets for addressing diabetes, which include ensuring that by 2030, 80% of people living with diabetes have been diagnosed and 80% of people with diagnosed diabetes have good control of their blood pressure.
- new recommendations for the prevention and management of obesity, to reduce the intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake in adults and children, and to
- reduce the global prevalence of physical inactivity by 15%; an action plan (2022-2030) to effectively implement the Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol as a public health priority.
- landmark global strategy on oral health and WHO will also publish its first ever global report on oral health later in 2022.
- updated WHO Global Strategy for Food Safety 2022-2030, to strengthen national food safety systems.
The WHA highlighted a broad agreement that a stronger WHO is needed and there is a requirement for better planning to manage global health crises.