WHO Member States gathered in Doha, Washington, D.C, Copenhagen, Manila, and Brazzaville for their respective World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee sessions in the past months to set policies, strategies, and frameworks for the coming years. 

The WHO Regional Committees – the WHO’s governing bodies in each of six regions – meet yearly to formulate regional policies, supervise WHO activities, comment on the regional components of WHO’s budget, and every five years, nominate a regional director. 

On Wednesday, in the final edition of the regional series, the WHO European Regional Committee nominated Dr Hans Henri Kluge as WHO Regional Director for Europe for a second 5-year term, which will begin in February 2025 after his formal re-election by the WHO Executive Board at their January 2025 meeting. 

That followed the nomination of a new Regional Director for WHO’s African Region in late August, where Dr Faustine Engelbert Ndugulile of Tanzania was nominated to take over the helm from Matshidiso Moeti, Africa’s first female RD, who served ten years in the position. The AFRO Regional Committee featured WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pledging support for Africa CDC and the African Medicines Agency, in an attempt to sooth purpoted tensions between the two agencies.

The Pan American Health Organization Directing Council, which met in early October, unveiled a roadmap for a new strategic plan, after member states adopted policies ranging from health system strengthening to climate and health adaptation and mitigation.

Kluge’s tenure began at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and along with the pandemic response, he has made a name for himself leading the Region through a broad range of other health emergencies. Those range from extreme weather events, to Europe’s mpox outbreak, the war in Ukraine and the Region’s response to crises in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean regions. 

“By identifying and acting on priorities of importance to the almost one billion people across Europe and Central Asia, our Member States display welcome solidarity and multilateralism at a time of deepening distrust and division,” said Dr Kluge at the close of the Regional Committee session, where he was nominated for a second term. “Health can and does bring countries and communities together. We at WHO/Europe are grateful for the opportunity to work with our Member States and partners to help shape the future of health for the benefit of all.”

At the European Regional meeting, member states also discussed plans and strategies for: healthcare system resiliency and primary healthcare investment, health emergency preparedness – known as “Preparedness 2.0”, emergency medical teams capacity, and health innovations and emerging technologies. Member states also discussed five year plans and strategies around national health security, mental health, the climate crisis, and gender-based violence. 

Western Pacific focuses on improving health financing, digital health

The Western Pacific Region (WPRO) member states, home to more than 1.9 billion people across 37 countries and areas, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, Korea, China, and Japan, met 21 to 25 October, adopting strategies that aim to increase national public health funding, and implement digital health solutions. 

Despite recent reforms in health financing, public health spending in the Western Pacific Region remains “inadequate” to meet growing needs, the WRPO said in a press release. The lack of healthcare service access and the financial burden of care costs presents a growing burden in the Region, where in 2019 more than 300 million people faced “catastrophic” health costs. 

To curb costs, the Regional Committee endorsed a regional action framework for health financing. The Framework aims to improve health financing through five action domains: 1) greater reliance on public funding for health; 2) more equitable and efficient health spending; 3) financing primary health care (PHC) now and into the future; 4) strengthening governance for health financing; and 5) promoting health for all in economic and social policy, according to a statement. 

The Committee also endorsed measures to accelerate digital healthcare technologies, which calls on countries to prioritize “governance, socio-technical infrastructure, financing and economics, digital health solutions, and data in strengthening health systems in the era of digital transformation.” 

Regional conflicts take center stage at Eastern Mediterranean regional committee

On 14 October, meanwhile, Eastern Mediterranean Region member states met in Doha, Qatar, for its 71st regional committee. The conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Yemen, and Lebanon occupied much of the discussion. The devastation of health infrastructure and the outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases – “an unprecedented series of emergencies” – were the backdrop to the Committee’s “Health Beyond Borders” theme. 

“In several countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, conflicts, epidemics and political unrest have weakened health services, requiring responsibility, solidarity and equity to improve the lives of all people. We have learned from pandemics and epidemics the importance of solidarity, and that protecting health requires global efforts that transcend national borders,” observed Dr Hanan Al-Kuwari, Qatar Minister of Health in her opening remarks. 

WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed the intensity of threats facing the region in his opening address, noting : “The eruption of conflict in Lebanon has put the health of millions more people at risk. The number of internally displaced people is growing rapidly, and so is the threat of disease outbreaks, compounded by overcrowding in shelters and the closure of hospitals.”

The Director General urged EMRO Member States to engage in Pandemic Agreement negotiations, “and if possible, to complete it by the end of this year” as well as to participate in the ‘WHO Investment Round’ that aims to raise some $7 billion in supplementary funds to fill a gaping hole in WHO’s $11 billion budget for the next four years. 

The EMRO four-year strategic plan focuses on three flagship initiatives: expanding equitable access to essential medicines, vaccines and medical products, investing in a more resilient health workforce and scaling up public health action on substance abuse. Member states formally adopted the plan at the end of the four day conference; approved a strategic frameworks for implementation of Immunization Agenda 2030, strengthening health laboratory services in the Region 2024–2029. The Committee also endorsed a new regional strategy to strengthen local vaccine production.

South Asia regional meeting under cloud of Regional Director’s controversy

In New Delhi, meanwhile, South-East Asian (SEARO) Member States converged  in the first week of October to adopt resolutions on adolescent health and set measles and rubella elimination targets.  The meeting took place despite late summer unrest in neighbouring Bangladesh that saw Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resign and flee the country. That followed the controversial election in February 2024 of Sheikh Hasina’s daughter, Dr Saima Wazed, as the new SEARO regional director – in a vote that critics said was laced with politics.

There were fears that the subsequent resignation of Sheikh Hasina could further complicate Wazed’s job as the new SEARO RD.  However, despite the political upheaval, the Regional Committee session took place on schedule.

The SEARO event also featured a number of regional health achievements by member states. Those included six countries’ attainment of SDG targets for reducing  under five mortality and still  birth rates; India’s elimination of trachoma; Timor-Leste’s elimination of lymphatic filariasis; Bhutan’s achievement of interim WHO targets for cervical cancer elimination; and Maldives and Sri Lanka’s progress on Hepatitis B control in children.

“The progress being made is the Region is heartening. I congratulate countries for their achievements which demonstrates their commitment to health and wellbeing of people. I look forward to together building on this momentum to further accelerate efforts for equitable access to health services for all in our Region in the coming years,” said Dr Wazed in a press release at the close of the meeting.

WHO ‘investment rounds’ now a feature of Regional Committee meetings

In a new twist on the decades’ old formula, WHO has also now been making use of the Regional Committee events to stage awareness-raising events about the agency’s new ‘Investment Round’ strategy – which aims to streamline and amplify member states’ voluntary contributions so as to raise roughly $7.4 million more to fund WHO’s 2025-28 budget of $11.1 billion.

In the case of the African, WPRO and SEARO regions, fund raising events even took place directly at the regional meetings. In the first-ever SEARO WHO Investment Round,countries pledged some $345 million, beyond their assessed annual contributions. That followed pledges from the African region for $45 million at their annual meeting in August. At the Western Pacific Regional meeting, in late October, meanwhile, countries pledged a total of $20 million.

As for other (richer) regions, such as the European Region, the Americas and the Eastern Mediterranean, those all-important pledges are being recruited and announced separately.  A gala European Region event was featured at the mid-October World Health Summit in Berlin, which garnered nearly a$1 billion for the organization – although major donors such as France, Spain and the United Kingdom did not announce commitments there.  As for the conflict-wracked EMRO region, which also includes wealthy Gulf countries, and the Americas, where a US election win by former President Donald Trump could lead to another US disengagement from WHO, as per the moves made during his last term, the Regional Committee meetings were used for briefings and awareness-raising. But it remains to be seen when and how concrete pledges will actually be finalized and announced.

WHO Secures $1 Billion at First European Investment Round

See the following links for Health Policy Watch coverage of outcomes from two other WHO regional committees – the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the African Region (AFRO).

Image Credits: WHO/EURO, WHO/EMRO, X.