Crater at the former Soviet Union nuclear test site Semipalatinsk, in present-day Kazakhstan, one of the supporters of a WHO update on the health effects of nuclear war.

For the first time since the 1990s, the World Health Organization has been asked by member states to update its assessment on the health impacts of nuclear war, although not without significant resistance, led by Russia and North Korea, but also including many other major nuclear states. 

The resolution calling for an updated assessment of the “effects of nuclear war on public health” was approved by a margin of 84-14 votes with 28 abstentions.  

It was sponsored by a dozen nations, including Western Pacific, African and former Soviet states that were deeply affected by nuclear tests of the 1950s and 60s, while opposition was led by the Russian Federation along with (DPRK) North Korea. 

Europes two leading nuclear powers, the United Kingdom, France, also voted no along with ten other European states, including Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, on the mandate to update WHO’s guidance, saying it would duplicate the work of other UN nuclear and non-proliferation bodies. India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, also abstained. 

Duplication or not? 

India, along with other nuclear powers, abstained from voting to refresh the WHO’s analysis of nuclear war’s health impacts.

“The international community has always known that a nuclear war would have devastating consequences upon all humankind. This was written into the preamble of the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, it’s been reaffirmed many times since, and is at the core of our efforts to avert such a war,” said the UK delegate, speaking on behalf of about 16 European member states. 

“No update to existing WHO studies could materially alter that established understanding of the devastation of nuclear war.”

Added India,  “We are neither convinced of the added value of initiating another study on this subject, nor of WHO being the relevant forum. We therefore abstained.”

Furthermore, the work WHO is mandated to do would “duplicate that of other international bodies when a constrained WHO budget is driving an urgently needed prioritization exercise,” the UK delegate maintained, referring to a 2024 mandate by the UN General Assembly for such a study.

“Of course, people understand the consequences of a nuclear war, but a constant reminder would also be important,” responded WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “And as many of you have already said, it’s not new for WHO;  There were reports in the 1980s and 1990s.”  

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – WHO will coordinate with UN to avoid duplication.

“So we can consider this, as you suggested, as an update,” he added, stressing that WHO could do the update cost-efficiently in collaboration with other UN bodies engaged in the discourse over nuclear weapons and disarmament. 

WHO produced two series of reports on health and nuclear war, with the last more than 30 years old.  Those included the “Effects of Nuclear War on Health and Health Services” in 1983 and 1987, followed by a 1993 report on “Effects of Nuclear Weapons on Health and the Environment,” Chuck Johnson of the NGO International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War noted.

“This will extend study on both of these issues,” Johnson said, adding that it would cover “a broader area of public health than the UN General Assembly study” mandated last December.

He added that the European “No” votes on the measure also were a “very NATO-influenced vote.  No NATO country voted yes” he observed, referring to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 32 members.

African and Asia Pacific nations make emotional plea for closer examination of nuclear war’s health impacts 

Health effects of nuclear war transcend borders and generations – South Africa at Monday’s World Health Assembly

The support of many WHO member states for the review was palpable, and at times highly emotional. Pacific Island states recalled the legacy of nuclear testing in their region, which left long-term health and environmental scars.    

“To this very day, survivors and their descendants are still in pain, suffering and continue to perish from the effects of nuclear weapons and nuclear war,” said the delegate from Samoa. 

“While science and technology have advanced, evidence-based information on the health and environmental impacts of nuclear weapons remains stagnant at WHO.… Now is the time for WHO to renew its mandate and have an updated, comprehensive report. We urge all states to do what is morally right and support this resolution… We should continue the pursuit of the truth, for the truth shall set us free.” 

Algeria, meanwhile, noted it was the only African nation that had suffered the effects of nuclear testing during the colonial period – but those effects are still being felt. 

“We are are still suffering from what we experienced during the period of colonialism as a result of the adverse effects of nuclear tests that took place during that era,” said Algeria’s representative, “We are in a situation still today where large parts of the Algerian Sahara are still suffering from the impacts of what happened. 

“People still have serious diseases and disabilities because of high rates of radiation.  We see, for instance, more cancer there than in other parts of the country. There are also more cases of children born with physical deformations, because at that time, the colonial powers didn’t even bother appropriately disposing of nuclear waste, and they didn’t tell us precisely where the testing was carried out.”

Numerous co-sponsors of the WHA resolution know the health effects of nuclear war and weapons first-hand, “as they hail from states which were the blast sites or experienced the fallout from nuclear tests,” South Africa observed. 

“Not only were they robbed of their loved ones, together with the land of their ancestors, but their bodies still carry the scars. 

“As Africans, we too know the damage caused by the nuclear tests which were conducted on our continent. The effects transcend national borders, go beyond the impact on health of current conditions, to future generations, and pose repercussions for human survival, and we therefore welcome the provision for updated studies. 

“In this regard, it is the tragedy of this nuclear legacy which underpins the urgent need for a nuclear weapons free world now more than ever, we owe it to the victims of these deadly experiments and their families, together with the hibakusha, to ensure that we save succeeding generations from the unacceptable suffering that they still confront.” 

Correction:  We originally reported that the United Kingdom, France and Germany abstained from the vote. In fact, they all voted ‘no’.

Image Credits: Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

Committee A adopted a resolution on strengthening the health workforce

Several countries at the World Health Assembly (WHA) called for enforcement clauses to be included in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) code on international recruitment as wealthier countries continue to recruit health workers from poorer countries.

Regions will take up discussion on how to strengthen the code, based on an expert advisory group’s assessment, and their suggestions will be tabled at next year’s WHA, delegates at the current WHA resolved on Monday (26 May).

Countries also passed a resolution aimed at accelerating action on the global health and care workforce.

The resolution requests the WHO Director-General to prioritize resources to support policy development and implementation of the health and care workforce priorities outlined in the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030.

This includes fostering regional and global collaboration, and supporting member states to manage and develop their health and care workforce.

By 2030, there will be a global shortage of 11.1 million health workers and there is fierce competition for doctors and nurses in particular.

South-South collaboration

Small island developing states (SIDS) and African countries were outspoken about their battles to retain health workers.

Jamaica, Samoa and Barbados  all spoke of struggling to retain staff despite improving pay, working conditions and training, owing to “aggressive recruitment” of their health workers.

Jamaica said that “South-South collaboration” has been the only successful strategy to address the shortage of specialist nurses.

“Jamaica extends its appreciation to our long standing partner, Cuba, we engaged partners such as Nigeria and new partners, the Philippines and India,” the country noted.

Through collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Jamaica is developing a human resource for health policy and action plan and conducting a health labour market analysis. It should be noted that the latter is the first for the English speaking Caribbean. 

“The ongoing migration of our health care workers poses a serious threat to our health system. We urge the WHO and international partners to amplify advocacy on its impact in SIDS like Jamaica, and to actively promote fairer, more ethical recruitment by high income countries.”

Barbados called for a “binding framework to protect health worker rights and align migration with national priorities”.

Africa faces ‘critical challenges’

Ghana, speaking for Africa, said that the region “continues to face critical health workforce challenges, including acute shortages, gender inequities, skill imbalances and the maldistribution of personnel”. 

These issues have been exacerbated by migration, limited funds and “fragile working conditions”.

“The evolving healthforce migration requires that Western countries that demand Africans must contribute to the training of more workforce,” said Ghana.

Sudan reported that the conflict has had a “devastating impact on the already strained health workforce sector, where a sizable number of health workers have left the country or displaced internally due to the security situation. Those who remain in the front line are subjected to major risks, strain and work overload.”

Meanwhile, the small country of Eswatini acknowledged that it was unable to employ 10% of its health workforce because of financial constraints.

Zimbabwe endorses a “global solidarity fund to help mitigate the impact of health work in immigration in low and middle income countries”.

Community health workers

Thailand for South-East Asian Region (SEARO) reported that the region had 4.2 million community health workers that played a vital own role in healthcare services.

SEARO wants the development of a “global health and care workforce compact, accompanied by a five year roadmap aimed at strengthening national workforce capacity and addressing the projected global health workforce shortages”.

Poland, speaking for the European Union and candidate members, stressed that “protection from any form of violence, discrimination, unsafe working conditions, and respect for human rights, as well as due appreciation in all its forms, are preconditions for attracting and retaining the health workforce”.

In light of the shortage of health workers, Poland stressed the importance of “digital upskilling” to address the digital health transition. 

“The WHO Academy offers a unique opportunity to strengthen the skills and capacities of human resources in health,” Poland noted, of the new facility hosted by France.

“Health policies must promote equity and gender responsive approaches support women’s meaningful participation and leadership. Currently, women form 70% of the health workforce, but hold less than 25% of senior roles with a 24% pay gap,” Poland noted.

Dr Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General of Universal Health Coverage, said that there that been an increase in the projected gap for health care workers by 2030.

“That is alarming, especially in the context of official development aid cuts that are already hitting some of the most important cadres, like community health workers.”

Smoke billows from chimneys in Poland – generating both air pollution and climate emissions of CO2.

In an eleventh-hour move, World Health Assembly member states on Monday deferred a final vote on a draft WHO Action plan on Climate Change and Health until Tuesday morning – in an effort to find a last-minute compromise with a bloc of oil-rich states trying to put the plan on ice.

The move followed a Russian-backed Saudi initiative over the weekend to postpone approval of the Action Plan until 2026, with the support of other members of WHO’s  Eastern Mediterranean Region.

But in a nearly three hour debate on Monday, few other member states appeared ready to fall in line.

After it appeared unlikely that opponents could muster the votes to delay the plan for a year, WHA delegates recessed into evening consultations in an effort to find an eleventh-hour consensus – and avoid a ballot that would be embarrassing for any losers.

In their comments at the WHA on Monday, dozens of states from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Pacific Islands, expressed support for the action plan and its immediate approval. The plan maps ways in which WHO can support low- and middle-income nations to adapt to climate change and reduce future health impacts, including impacts on health systems.

CBDR is a legal concept in the 2015 Paris agreement, but doesn’t belong in an action plan, argued the UK delegate.

During the debate, a number of high income states, including the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as developing countries nations expressed differences of opinion over some of the plan’s references to broader UN principles, particularly the “common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR)” of rich versus poorer nations to take climate action.

The CBDR concept, while embedded in UN climate frameworks, is out of place in an action plan, complained the UK.  India, on the other hand, maintained that “any global plan must align with existing international agreements under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement. Central to this is the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, which safeguards equity and fairness in global climate action.”

Either way, the action plan remains a voluntary framework and not a legal instrument, its proponents argued. And against the differing interpretations of some passages in the  plan, most agreed that there is an overriding urgency to approving the measure at this year’s WHA session.

‘No time to lose’

Peru, on behalf of nearly 50 states across the Americas, Asia and Europe, calls for immediate adoption of the climate and health plan.

“Instead of delay we need to accelerate actions to address the health impacts of climate change – already visible all over the world,” declared Peru, on behalf of nearly 50 nations across the Americas, Asia and the Western Pacific, Africa and the European Union. “Now, there is no time to lose.”

Mozambique, speaking for the 47-member African Region, said that the group also supported “full adoption of the global action plan on climate change and health.”

Referring to the increased frequency of drought, cyclones and flooding being seen in the region, he added, “the African region is disproportionally impacted by climate change, and although our continent contributes minimal to the global emission it bears the greatest burden… We call for urgent action to build climate resilient health systems across the continent.”  

Unusual rearguard move

The rearguard action by oil-rich member states against the climate action plan was an unusual move, insofar as it follows on from a new resolution on Climate Change and Health that was approved overwhelmingly by the Assembly just last year. At that time, as well, more than  three dozen WHA delegations spoke on behalf of the measure, the first on climate since 2008. See related story:

New Climate and Health Resolution Wins Strong Support from WHO Member States

“The very survival of our species will depend on this,” Colombia said at last year’s debate in May 2024,  deploring the dearth of climate finance for developing nations which have contributed the least to the climate problem.

This year’s Action Plan is supposed to provide just that – helping vulnerable nations access climate finance to bolster their climate resilience in ways that benefit health.

The Plan also aims to empower health sector engagement with climate actors in other sectors that generate significant climate pollution harming health, e.g. transport, household energy, agriculture and nutrition. Finally, it is supposed help health facilities become more climate resilient and support tens of thousands of energy-poor health facilities the world over to gain access to clean and reliable electricity sources.

While Russia decried the plan as duplicative and costly, at $168 million over the coming 2.5 years, its near-term costs are covered by dedicated funding, other member states underlined. And the plan’s costs are still only a fraction of the costs of other resolutions approved at this year’s WHA – some of which have no committed funding at all.

Air Pollution road map endorsed – but meeting target impossible without more climate action

In contrast to the headwinds encountered by the climate plan, a new WHO road map on air pollution and health received a resounding endorsement from all WHO regions, including EMRO, in a debate earlier on Monday. The ambitious measure aims to halve deaths from human-produced sources of air pollution by by 2040.

Helena Naber at the launch of a World Bank report on climate and air pollution synergies at WHO’s Air Pollution and Health Conference in Cartagena, Colombia.

But most experts agree that reducing air pollution is technically impossible without complementary shifts to cleaner energy sources that would also planet-warming fossil fuel emissions.

In fact, in a business-as-usual scenario,  air pollution “will only get worse” over the next 15 years – and that is even if all existing climate and clean air commitments are met, warned the World Bank’s Helena Naber, senior World Bank environmental economist, at an event in Geneva on Friday. She referred to a new World Bank analysis “Accelarating Access to Clean Air for  Liveable Planet,” launched in March.

“Even if countries successfully implement all their energy climate and air pollution control policies and measures that are announced or planned now over the next 15 years, by 2040 we will still see a rise of 21% in the number of people who are exposed to PM 2.5 levels above [the WHO annual guideline] of five micrograms per cubic meter, and this will be due to combined effects of population growth and economic expansion,” Naber said.

“And as a percent increase, the highest will be in Sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.

Conversely, halving the number of people exposed to high PM 2.5 concentrations (above 25 micrograms/cubic meter) by 2040 is feasible and affordable – but only if countries adopt a more “integrated” approach that accelerates the clean energy transition and reduces greenhouse gas emisions, Naber said.

Rising human health and financial costs of climate inaction

Solar panels provide electricity to Mulalika health clinic in Zambia, enabling reliable function of core health services while reducing pollution from diesel electricity generation.
Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC reduces GDP losses by two-thirds.

Meanwhile, the human health and financial costs of non-action on climate change are rising steadily over time – as average temperatures remain at record highs and the impacts of extreme weather grow.

One study published last year by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) and partners, predicted a 10% loss of global GDP if global warming continues to 3ºC – with the worst impacts in less developed countries.

At the same time, limiting global warming to 1.5ºC could reduce the global economic costs of climate change by around two-thirds.

Large proportion of air pollution deaths are from fossil fuel sources

The opposition to the climate change and health action plan is all the more ironic insofar as a large proportion of deaths from air pollution are due to emissions from fossil fuels.

Although estimates vary depending on the method of analysis, between 2-5 million air pollution related deaths can be attributed to emissions from fossil fuel-producing sources.

Notably, diesel fuel which produces high levels of health-harmful particulate pollution, including black carbon “superpollutants” that also accelerate warming, ice and glacier melt.  Emissions of methane, a highly potent climate gas that leaks from oil and gas production, also contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone responsible for a significant chronic respiratory diseases and asthma.

“The Eastern Mediterranean has the highest air pollution sources of all member state regions,” noted Libya, in a statement in support of the WHO Air Pollution Road Map, on behalf of the same EMRO member states that are trying to stall the WHO Climate and health action plan.  “Although natural sources such as [sand] storms are a significant factor, addressing the anthropogenic sources is crucial to improving air quality in the region,” said the delegate.

Of the roughly 7 million premature deaths from air pollution that  annually worldwide, “85% of those deaths are attributed to non communicable diseases, including heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer,” the delegate also noted.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia also led an initiative by the EMRO region to block the World Health Assembly’s approval of a first-ever resolution on air pollution on health. Saudi delegates argued in closed door debates that air pollution was largely a product of wood and biomass burning – not fossil fuels – something African member states rejected. After a series of closed door, late-night negotiations, Saudi Arabia and the EMRO bloc it led agreed to go along with the landmark resolution. But the agreement was contingent on the revision of references linking air pollution and climate change, watering down those associations.

Since then the science around the linkages has become even more unequivocal – with more evidence pointing not only to the direct impacts of air pollution created by fossil fuel burning – but also the increased impacts of fossil fuel sources on emissions of super-pollutants, and impacts of air pollution on health when combined with extreme weather, such as heat waves.

Image Credits: Janusz Walczak/ Unsplash, UNDP/Karin Schermbrucker for Slingshot , IIAS.ac.at.

Prof Helen Rees in front of the derelict building that has become the Hillbrow Clinic in Johannesburg, where her institute is based.

“We don’t need faster horses, we need a new model of global health,” says Professor Helen Rees, who received the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2025 Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize on Friday for her “outstanding contribution to public health”.

“If there isn’t going to be money, we shouldn’t be trying to run the same things on a third of a budget.

“We have to restructure, focusing on what is going to give us the best return on investment –  things like immunisation, and maternal and child health,” she told the award ceremony last Friday, hosted by the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) and the Geneva Graduate Institute. 

Rees has spent her entire distinguished career finding solutions to some of the most pressing global health problems, including malnutrition, HIV, cervical cancer, tuberculosis, and access to medicines for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). 

Although the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where she has been based for three decades, faces enormous funding cuts following the immediate withdrawal of US funds, her instinct is to seek solutions.

“The sudden withdrawal of funds is really tough because we’re dealing with patients facing the withdrawal of services; with participants on studies that have suddenly stopped; with people losing their jobs in large numbers who were providing unique services around things like HIV and TB,” Rees told Health Policy Watch before her award ceremony last Friday.

“But the point is now, we have to sit up and say: What is the reset dial? “We need to innovate, prioritise and use digital and AI solutions.”

Leapfrogging to most effective technology

Rees is urging a “rethink of global health” encompassing “global governance, financing, health services, research and [how to] leapfrog to the most effective technology”, she told the award ceremony. 

First, governments and regions need to take more responsibility for the health of their citizens, she says. Back in 2001, African leaders adopted the Abuja Declaration in which they pledged to spend at least 15% of their budgets on health, yet a quarter of a century later, only Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde has consistently done so.

“Country budgets need to be redirected to health services, and the ‘sin taxes’ [on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks] can also be considered. But debt relief needs to come into this. Over 50% of low-income countries are at risk of a debt crisis and the development banks and multilateral organisations also need to rethink what is their model.”

She warns that if there is a substantial rise in HIV infections as a result of the withdrawal of US funding, this will “create a huge reservoir of immunocompromised individuals” that will “facilitate the emergence of new pathogens”.

Wealthier countries need to persist with official development assistance (ODA) to the poorest countries, even if only to protect themselves.

Prof Antoine Flahault, chair of the Geneva Health Forum; WHO’s Dr Suraya Dalil; Prof Helen Rees; Dr Jerome Kim of the International Vaccine Institute and Dr Margaret Chan, former WHO Director-General.

Joining Rees on a panel after her award, Dr Jerome Kim, director-general of the International Vaccine Institute, agreed on the need for a global restructuring, and urged “end-to-end thinking”.

“We can’t just have a vaccine. We have to have a plan to use it. We have to know that it’s going to be cost-effective. We’re not just developing vaccines for the companies. We’re developing them to be used and to have impact,” said Kim.

“The rotavirus vaccine was approved in the US in 2006. It was approved by WHO and recommended in 2009. Now, in 2025, 60% of the world’s children still don’t receive all the doses of rotavirus vaccine,” Kim pointed out.

Innovative financing

Rees cites MedAccess, which she chairs, as an organisation that is looking at getting health products needed by LMICs “through innovative financing, health and volume guarantees”.

We need “better, smarter technologies, that make health services easier to administer, medicines easier to store and transport.

To address the worldwide shortage of health workers, resulting in crowded clinics and overloaded nurses, Rees wants technology “to enable patient-responsible care”, such as tools to self-monitor chronic conditions.

There needs to be facility-level digitisation to manage clinic appointments, ensure patients are collecting medication and identify outbreaks.

Then, says Rees, “we need to make the products we deliver easier for patients”. A key example is long-acting lenacapavir, an antiretroviral medicine that prevents HIV via two annual injections.

Finding solutions for the most vulnerable 

British-born, Rees has spent her career based in southern Africa finding solutions to health problems of people living in poor settings in roles ranging from paediatrician to researcher, academic, policy-maker, drug regulator and international adviser.

The common thread in all these roles is her desire to improve the lives of those most vulnerable – social justice values she gets from a family of Welsh coalminers, trade unionists, teachers and preachers.

Rees and her South African husband, Dr Fazel Randera, met when they were medical students in the UK and, on graduating, they went to newly independent Zimbabwe to apply their skills.

Rees was a paediatrician, and her malnourished little patients inspired her and colleagues to encourage parents to fortify the maize meal they were weaning their children on by adding locally grown nuts. 

Looking at the bigger picture to find population-level solutions was a no-brainer for Rees from the start.

Solving problems with research and technology

Prof Rees in the Hillbrow Clinic.

“It is really about identifying the problem, prioritising a research agenda, and then looking for appropriate technology, then looking at implementation, science, policy, governance, finance, access and community and trust,” Rees told the award ceremony of her professional approach.

Rees’s 10 essential lessons

Understanding this essential chain “took a while”, and has come through many years of experience.

In 1980, she and Randera left Zimbabwe for South Africa, where they were quickly drawn into trying to address the effects of apartheid from Alexandra Clinic, a donor-funded health oasis in a densely crowded Black-designated township in Johannesburg.

“The townships were on fire,” says Rees. “The first grant I ever got was to set up an emergency services group for youth in townships who were being shot, were being frightened and persecuted. We trained them in emergency first aid, and we gave emergency equipment.”

By the time South Africa overcame apartheid in 1994, HIV was emerging as a major challenge – particularly for young women.

Rees started the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) at the University of the Witwatersrand, which has become one of the country’s most important research institutions.

The institute is based at Hillbrow Clinic, an inner-city slum in Johannesburg, where a collection of derelict buildings was transformed.

“Where I have physically worked has always integrated the needs of underserved communities with research and clinical services,” Rees explains.

Several key trials have been run from the clinic, which also provides healthcare to the community, particularly to mothers and children.

Building a new country

“How do you jump from clinical to research and then into policy and governance?” Rees asks, then answers by saying that South Africa was “looking towards a new country” in the late 1980s.

She was drawn into this quest, first assisting in writing a new health policy for the government-in-waiting, then working on several clinical trials that guided policy, including pioneering research on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and operational research on infectious disease control strategies in the most vulnerable settings.

Then she jumped into governance when appointed to chair of the board of South Africa’s medicines regulator, the Medicines Control Council (MCC).

One of the unexpected challenges she encountered as a regulator was when former President Thabo Mbeki denied that HIV causes AIDS, and pressured the regulator not to approve nevirapine for prevention of mother-to-child HIV infection.

Precious Matsoso delivered congratulations to Rees on behalf of the South African government at the award ceremony.

She and the Registrar of Medicines, Precious Matsoso, who recent co-chaired the WHO pandemic agreement negotiations, registered nevirapine anyway – and cemented the principle of science over politics.

Rees still chairs the board of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, the successor of the MCC. 

More recently, she has assisted African countries with the Ebola, COVID-19, and monkeypox epidemics on several groups, including as chair of WHO’s African Regional Technical Advisory Group on Immunization and a member of the WHO African Regional Emergency Preparedness and Response Technical Advisory Group.

She also chairs and participates in several global WHO expert scientific committees on global vaccine policy and health emergency preparedness, and served on the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) for several years.

Back home, Wits RHI is leading a vaccine trial for TB vaccine (funded by the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust), and researching how to roll out lenacapavir, the long-acting antiretroviral for pre-exposure prophylaxis.

In recognition of her immense contributions to science and public health, she has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Order of the Baobab of the Republic of South Africa, the Gold Medal of the South African Academy of Science and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

But Rees said that her greatest achievement is her family. She has three children – raised with “benign neglect”, she laughs – and four grandchildren.

Image Credits: ARD.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, the first director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and currently head of the Health Emergencies Programme for the World Health Organization, believes that greater African leadership in global health organizations would benefit everyone.

“These roles require not only technical competence, but also empathy and compassion, which I believe can only develop with time and experience,” Ihekweazu told Garry Aslanyan, host of the Global Health Matters podcast. “Global health indices will benefit greatly from more diverse representation at all levels of leadership.”

A Nigerian infectious disease epidemiologist, Ihekweazu brings extensive experience in public health leadership. He and his wife, Vivianne Ihekweazu, were featured on the Dialogues show to discuss their new book, An Imperfect Storm: A Pandemic and the Coming of Age of a Nigerian Institution. The book chronicles his tenure as the founding director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control from 2016 to 2021, a period in which he played a pivotal role in strengthening Nigeria’s public health infrastructure—particularly in the lead-up to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under his leadership, the Nigeria CDC became a central force in Africa’s pandemic response.

Vivianne Ihekweazu also works in health, serving as managing director of Nigeria Health Watch.

Listen to the full episode:

Listen to more Global Health Matters podcasts on Health Policy Watch >>


Please note: This article corrects an earlier error. Chikwe Ihekweazu was the first director-general of the Nigeria CDC, but not its founder.

Image Credits: Global Health Matters, TDR.

Oral polio vaccine is administered to a one-day old child in Ethiopia.

The world’s leading polio eradication programme faces a 40% budget cut next year as the paralysis-causing virus surges in its last strongholds of Afghanistan and Pakistan and war-torn regions, threatening to reverse decades of progress toward eradicating the disease.

“The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is facing a 40% budget cut in 2026,” Dr Hanan Balkhy, regional director of the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, told the World Health Assembly on Friday — the same body that launched the global eradication effort 36 years ago.

The convergence of funding cuts, conflict, and viral resurgence now threatens to unravel humanity’s near-victory over a virus that would become only the second human disease ever eradicated after smallpox.

Polio paralysed or killed over half a million people worldwide every year at its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, attacking the nervous system and causing irreversible paralysis within hours, primarily affecting children under five. 

Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched in 1988 — co-led by WHO with Rotary International, the US CDC, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance — cases have dropped by 99% worldwide.

“We are at a tipping point. Either we invest now to finish the job or risk a global resurgence,” Balkhy told the assembly. “We do not have the luxury of time.”

Funding crisis deepens

The 78th World Health Assembly in progress in Geneva.

GPEI’s funding problems were out in the open before the current budget crisis. Last October, the initiative admitted it needed more time and money to reach its eradication targets, pushing the deadline to 2027 for wild poliovirus and 2029 for vaccine-derived strains.

The original eradication target was 2000.

The initiative raised its budget request to $6.9 billion through 2029, up from an original $4.8 billion. So far, GPEI has received or secured pledges for $4.6 billion, nearly matching its original target. But with the increased costs, the WHO-led initiative now faces a funding gap of $2.3 billion through 2029.

The budget shortfall stems significantly from the withdrawal of the United States from the WHO, with both USAID and the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) disengaging from GPEI.

“As 2024 began, we were on the verge of eradicating wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the last two polio-endemic countries,” Balkhy told the WHO’s executive board in February. “But then came a resurgence, alongside outbreaks of variant poliovirus in Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and the Gaza Strip.”

WHO’s Emergency Committee unanimously agreed last month that “the risk of international spread of poliovirus continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” the UN health body’s highest level of alarm.

The wealthy elephant

Annual donations to global polio eradication broken down by country, foundation and international bloc for 2023.

The elephant in the room at the World Health Assembly was the US departure from global health efforts — no delegate directly mentioned it by name during the polio discussions, marking the first time the United States has not attended the meeting.

But Balkhy was more direct at WHO’s February executive board meeting.

“The disengagement of CDC and USAID is costing us already with the loss of their technical, strategic and functional support,” she told the board.

“In financial terms, this means a loss of $133 million to the GPEI, and a loss of $100 million for WHO’s polio-specific operations each year,” Balkhy said, with reference to this current year, 2025.  

The US has been GPEI’s second-largest historical donor averaging 22.6% of total funding since 1988, contributing $4.5 billion over the programme’s lifetime, second only to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at 40%.

In 2023, the US contributed about $264 million, or 20% of funding to polio eradication efforts, directly and indirectly. That included about $117 million of the GPEI’s own $907 million budget and another $148 million for US Centers for Disease control laboratory services as well as World Vision field support on the ground.  A USAID factsheet published in January noted the agency also had supported 2,396 health facilities employing over 10,000 female health workers in the world’s biggest polio hotspot, Afghanistan, in the past year alone.

The gap between the US and other government donors is vast: Canada, the next largest single-country donor, has contributed just 5.5% of the total funding, while Germany has given 3.6%. Canada, now the second-biggest state donor after the US withdrawal, contributes $62 million annually, less than a quarter of what the US provided. 

Some nations have pledged to step up support in the wake of the US departure. Saudi Arabia, which had not donated to the programme in nearly a decade, pledged $500 million to GPEI in February. Canada committed an additional $151 million over the next three years late last year. Yet the funding gap remains large.

The US was also a major player in the polio fight outside GPEI itself. GPEI fundraising documents show the US CDC’s polio efforts totalled $354 million in 2021 and 2022, while USAID contributed $140 million over the same period.

The sweeping US cuts to its humanitarian programmes also include a $131 million grant to UNICEF’s polio immunisation programme, which funded logistics, delivery, and transport to reach millions of children with vaccines.

“We remind member states that investing in polio eradication has saved more than 20 million people from paralysis, helped provide a range of vital health services for children and is an investment in global health security,” a UN Foundation delegate said.

Cases surge in polio final mountain strongholds

78th World Health Assembly Session in progress

Wild poliovirus spreads through contaminated water or food and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours, while vaccine-derived strains emerge when the weakened virus in oral vaccines mutates in areas with poor sanitation.

Afghanistan and Pakistan, the last two countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic, saw cases rise dramatically in 2024. Afghanistan recorded 23 cases last year, up 283% from 2023, while Pakistan saw 63 cases, a 550% increase.

Endemic transmission remains concentrated in high-risk districts along the Hindu Kush mountain range that forms the rugged border between Pakistan’s southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Afghanistan’s eastern region, where cross-border movement, militant activity and attacks on vaccination teams complicate immunisation efforts.

WHO figures show 99 wild poliovirus type 1 cases were reported in 2024, with three additional cases recorded in 2025 as of 10 April. Environmental surveillance — testing sewage and water sources for the virus — detected 741 positive samples in 2024 (113 in Afghanistan, 628 in Pakistan), with 80 more reported in the first weeks of 2025.

India, which shares a border with Pakistan, stressed the need for regional collaboration at the assembly. “Regionally, it is crucial to foster collaboration and share data, synchronise vaccination campaigns and work together to prevent the re-emergence of disease across borders,” India’s delegate said.

Vaccine hurdles

A young boy partially paralysed by polio meets a Canadian soldier in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

The virus persists despite massive vaccination efforts and international support. Achieving the 95% coverage needed for herd immunity remains elusive in endemic regions where every child needs multiple doses. Vast distances, insecurity, and deep-rooted distrust complicate an already difficult task.

Over 534,000 children are vaccinated monthly in Afghanistan alone, with 11.4 million vaccinated last year, according to the WHO. Yet Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate paused the polio immunisation programme twice in 2024 and now restricts vaccine delivery to mosques and village centres only, ending door-to-door campaigns that are crucial for reaching every child.

In Pakistan, only 84% of eligible children received two doses of the injectable vaccine in 2023. More than half of the polio cases in Pakistan last year were in children who hadn’t received a single dose.

Vaccine hesitancy remains entrenched in parts of both countries, with some believing vaccines affect fertility or are part of a Western conspiracy — distrust earned after the CIA operated a fake vaccination campaign while searching for Osama bin Laden in 2011.

The funding cuts compound these challenges on the ground.

“Cuts in development assistance are threatening both eradication efforts and essential services at this point,” said Dr Jamal Ahmed, Director of WHO’s Polio Eradication Programme and Chair of the GPEI’s Strategy Committee. “The challenge we have faced last year and a few years ago, and was highlighted by our member state today, is the global supply of vaccine and vaccine security.”

Vaccine-derived variants spread

Female
healthworker administers polio vaccination in house-to-house campaign in Pakistan’s sensitive northwestern region.

Beyond the wild virus, vaccine-derived poliovirus variants have emerged in 35 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as Spain in 2024.

These strains can develop when the weakened virus used in oral polio vaccines mutates in areas with poor sanitation and low vaccination coverage, regaining the ability to cause paralysis. Wealthier nations have shifted to inactivated polio vaccines, which are only effective at extremely high uptake rates and when polio is nearly eradicated.

Vaccine-derived variants were detected in Cameroon, Djibouti, Gaza, French Guiana, Ghana, Spain and Zimbabwe, WHO data shows. The United States reported 31 cases in 2022 — its first in a decade.

GAVI, the vaccine alliance, expressed concern about polio’s re-emergence in previously cleared areas.

“To achieve and maintain a world free of poliovirus, we must prioritise scaling up routine immunisation and reaching the under- and unvaccinated children worldwide,” GAVI’s representative told the assembly.

Conflicts drive resurgence

A doctor gives oral polio vaccine to children in Gaza. Vaccination rates in the territory have plummeted amid the war.

War and humanitarian crises create ideal conditions for polio’s spread as health systems collapse, vaccination campaigns halt, and populations flee their homes. Overcrowded displacement camps with poor sanitation allow the virus to circulate rapidly among unvaccinated children.

In Yemen, which had been polio-free since 2009, an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus emerged in 2020 amid civil war that has killed over 150,000 people, UN estimates show, with additional estimates of more than 227,000 dead from famine and lack of healthcare facilities due to the war.

“Cases of polio have reduced in the south of Yemen. Unfortunately, we still see cases recorded in the north of the country, in regions which are outside of the control of the legitimate authorities,” a Yemeni delegate told the assembly.

Gaza has faced similar challenges. While a February ceasefire allowed WHO to vaccinate 46,000 children, the campaign has since stalled. “Intensified attacks, a blockade of aid, and communities deprived of water, food and medicines… [we] have suspended the fourth vaccination round,” Balkhy said.

Sudan’s civil war, which has displaced millions and destroyed health infrastructure, has also seen vaccine-derived polio cases emerge as routine immunisation collapses.

“Because of the war and the financial constraints we are having … we are calling upon countries to show solidarity,” Sudan’s delegate said. “Help us in order to ensure surveillance and the protection of frontline officers and workers.” 

As war zones open new frontlines in the polio fight, whether the international community can mobilise the $2.3 billion needed to finish the job will determine the fate of global eradication efforts that have spanned nearly four decades.

Image Credits: UNICEF Ethiopia/Mulugeta Ayene 2018, WHO/Pierre Albouy, WHO, CC, Pakistan Polio Eradication Program , Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Saturday’s WHA session saw the approval of multiple resolutions, including new measures on health finance, rare disease and skin diseases.

The 78th World Health Assembly picked up momentum Saturday as countries adopted a Nigeria-sponsored initiative to stimulate more public health spending; and  first-ever WHO resolutions recognizing rare diseases and neglected skin diseases as global equity issues.

The resolution on strengthening health finance globally aims to accelerate progress towards long standing commitments on financing Universal Health Coverage. 

It echos a 2019 UN General Assembly appeal to governments to allocate “an additional 1% of gross domestic product or more for primary healthcare.” 

And it highlights potential fiscal levers that could raise more revenues for healthcare, such as “introducing and increasing taxes on tobacco, sugar and alcohol…  that reduces risk factors for noncommunicable diseases.”

Member states also are encouraged “to focus domestic resources on an affordable package of essential health benefits, based on evidence and developed through inclusive and transparent processes supported by health technology assessment.” 

The resolution is also noteworthy because it was initiated by Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. 

Countries’ commitments to finance UHC are way off track   

From 2020-2022, domestic public health expenditure (blue line) stagnated or declined while out of pocket spending (red line) grew fastest in the poorest countries, with donor funding filling in the gaps. Ke Xu, WHO health economist, presents latest data in December 2024.

Citing findings from the WHO’s 2023 Global Monitoring Report, the resolution notes that “the world is off track in making meaningful progress towards universal health coverage and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal indicators  by 2030.”

According to the draft resolution, almost two billion people globally continue to face financial hardship from health expenditures, and over 340 million are being pushed or further pushed into extreme poverty due to out-of-pocket spending. “One billion people globally [are] spending more than 10% of their household budgets on healthcare,” the resolution states, noting the urgency for reforms.

While there was a 60% increase overall in per-capita health expenditures between 2000 and 2022 –  in low income countries this was largely driven by a sharp rise in out-of-pocket spending (OOP), a December 2024 WHO report on public health expenditures found. 

The spending outlays fall far below the longstanding commitments of the 2001 Abuja Declaration, in which member states pledged to set aside at least 15% of their national budget for the health sector. 

Over the last two decades, donor outlays made up for the stagnation in domestic spending on public health systems in the poorest countries, according to the December 2024 WHO report – but now that support has been cut drastically, due largely to the massive US reductions in global health outlays.

WHA Resolution urges member states to improve social protection 

Examining a pregnant woman. In the lowest income countries, out of pocket costs for basic procedures have soared since 2020.

The new WHA resolution urges member states to “tackle the causes of poor financial protection and improve access to healthcare services without financial hardship.” 

It emphasizes the importance of prioritizing public financing for health systems, encouraging governments to focus on “government revenue as the primary source of financing,” and recommends reducing fragmentation through “pooling of government funds, including revenue from direct and indirect taxes and levies, where applicable.”

Finally, the resolution also encourages global health initiatives, donors, and financial institutions “to finance domestic priorities with consideration of favourable terms, aligned with country planning, budgetary processes, monitoring and evaluation cycles,” and calls for improved transparency and reporting through systems such as national health accounts.

The resolution requests WHO “to prepare reports on health expenditures and the state of global health financing to be presented in 2026, 2028 and 2030” and to “provide support for improvement in the quality and availability of data and in the timeliness and transparency of tracking domestic and external financing flows.”

In the light of WHO budget cuts, that’s a politically significant request in that it should help preserve WHO’s work tracking public health spending by countries and regions. See related story. 

Public Health Spending in Low Income Countries Stagnates – Out of Pocket Costs Soar 

To support country-level reform, the Director-General is also asked to support member states in “the development of prioritized national health financing road maps to mobilize technical assistance and financial resources.” 

Strong support from member states 

The resolution, initiated by Nigeria, had strong support from Member States, with several highlighting national efforts to scale up domestic financing.

 Zimbabwe reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable health investments, announcing plans for a “proposed national health insurance scheme to ensure sustainable and equitable health.” This aligns with the resolution’s call for countries to reduce reliance on out-of-pocket expenditure and prioritize pooled, public funding for healthcare.

Public Services International, representing global public sector workers, called on Member States “to walk the talk of adequate public funding,” warning that the increased privatization of healthcare “undermines the essence of UHC.” They urged debt cancellation for developing countries to free up fiscal space for primary healthcare investment, and emphasized the importance of treating health workers with fairness and dignity—echoing the resolution’s provisions on workforce protection.

The International Federation of Medical Students Associations also backed the resolution, calling it a timely response to growing inequities. They advocated for “sustainable public health financing to reduce out-of-pocket costs” and emphasized that health system reforms must be “grounded in equity and people-centered primary healthcare.”

Ailan Li, Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage at WHO, reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to supporting countries in implementing the resolution’s recommendations, noting that financing reform “is at the core of our work as we go forward.” .

First rare diseases resolution also approved

Incentives for R&D into new ‘orphan drugs’ for rare diseases are few – due to the comparatively low numbers of people affected.

During the session, Member States also unanimously adopted the resolution Rare diseases: a global health priority for equity and inclusion, the first of its kind within the WHO framework. 

A rare disease is described as a specific health condition affecting fewer than 1 in 2000 individuals in [the] general population, according to the resolution, which places rare diseases firmly within the global UHC and equity agenda.

Over 300 million people globally are living with one of more than 7,000 known rare diseases, many of which are chronic, disabling, and often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, the resolution notes. 

Li called the measure a “landmark”. 

“These are complex issues to manage, they are expensive issues to manage, and that is the reason that we brought it into [WHO’s] GPW 14, with the support of so many member states and partners,” she said. She confirmed that WHO would proceed with the development of a 10-year global action plan, to be presented at  the World Health Assembly in 2028.

Beyond policy symbolism, the resolution outlines tangible action points: it urges countries to integrate rare diseases into national health strategies, improve access to diagnosis and treatment, and develop registries and data systems. It also emphasizes social inclusion, noting that individuals with rare diseases often face “stigmatization, social exclusion, and limited access to essential services.”

The adoption of the resolution was widely praised by civil society and health organizations advocating for rare disease patients. Delegates welcomed WHO’s commitment to ensure that “persons living with a rare disease… receive timely and appropriate healthcare services,” including through improved diagnostics, workforce training, and dedicated research efforts.

Strengthening medical imaging capacity and tackling skin diseases  

Over 600 million people are at risk of visceral leishmaniasis,transmitted by sandflies, which affects the spleen and liver, and is almost always fatal if untreated. After treatment, patients can also be stricken with a dermal form of the parasitic disease.

In other actions Saturday, the Assembly approved several more resolutions on:  strengthening medical imaging capacity; bolstering national uptake of norms and standards (EB 156/17 and EB156/14); raising the profile of skin diseases as a global health priority (EB156/24). It also endorsed a strategy for accelerating the eradication (Guinea Worm Disease) dracunculiasis (EB156/23) and reviewed progress on the 202o roadmap for accelerating the elimination of meningitis by 2030 (A78/4).  

“Over 10% of skin diseases are NTDs which disproportionately impact underserved communities in LMICs and cause physical, mental and social harm, yet diagnosis is limited and many treatments are outdated or toxic,” noted a representative of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. 

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a milder form of the disease, also common in the Middle East and parts of North Africa as well as Latin America.

“We support the resolution’s focus on R&D and access to health tools, but commercial R&D systems continue to neglect skin NTDs. Governments must drive innovation through collaborative models that prioritize patient needs and build local capacity, domestic leadership and regional collaboration is key.

“The recent Memorandum of Understanding signed this week by six African countries on visceral leishmaniasis elimination demonstrates the power of coordinated cross border efforts. National political commitment is vital through integrating skin NTDs into health plans, resource allocation and training frontline healthcare workers to improve early detection and care.”

See related story here: 

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/cross-border-collaboration-gains-political-traction-as-africa-targets-visceral-leishmaniasis-elimination/

Image Credits: Abanima at the Arabic language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, , Twitter: @WHOAFRO, WHO, DNDi.

Kindness misdirected: an isolated older person single-handedly sustaining a pigeon colony.

In a rare moment for the World Health Assembly, delegates expanded their debates beyond the usual lexicon of disease pathogens to address something far more intimate: loneliness. 

The Assembly approved a first-ever resolution on Fostering social connection for global health:  the essential role of social connection in combating loneliness, social isolation and inequities in health, which aims to put the issue of social connection more squarely on the global health agenda – not as an afterthought or adjunct to mental health policy, but as a standalone priority. 

Co-sponsored by Spain and Chile, the measure calls attention to the growing global crisis of loneliness and social isolation, which are impacting health the world over, and significantly increasing the risk of conditions like cardiovascular disease, depression, and dementia. It urges member states to integrate strategies that foster meaningful social connections into national health policies, strengthen data collection, and promote public awareness. 

The resolution also highlights the disproportionate impact of social disconnection on vulnerable populations and the need for inclusive, cross-sectoral efforts—including digital technologies—to build more connected and resilient communities.

Approved by WHA delegates with very broad backing, the resolution frames social disconnection not just as a symptom of modern life, but as a concrete driver of physical and mental distress and illness.

Increasing risk of dementia, stroke and CVD 

Assistant Director Ailan Li: first time social connection is formally considered by the Assembly.

“Today marks the first time social connection has been formally considered at the WHA,” said Ailan Li, Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage, Healthier Populations at the WHO, the division responsible for mental health. “This marks a crucial step in reframing how we understand mental and social wellbeing as central to health systems.”

For the WHO, the recognition of social connection is strategic. COVID-19 laid bare the consequences of disconnection. Following the pandemic, countries from the United Kingdom and Kenya began to address loneliness as a health risk factor, one that leads to more illness, worsens health outcomes and thus inflates health system costs.

“Social isolation and loneliness increase the risk of dementia, stroke, cardiovascular disease and premature death,” noted Saima Wazed, WHO’s Regional Director for Southeast Asia. “Until recently, these were largely overlooked. We are heartened [that] this is now changing.”

At the WHA, member states also extended a WHO Global Action Plan on Dementia until 2031. The plan calls for 75% of Member States to have developed or updated a national dementia plan by 2025, the original planned date for completion. As of 2024, only 50 out of 194 countries had done so, leading to the extension initiative, which has nonetheless produced dozens of workshops on dementia at country level as well as a WHO-hosted Global Dementia Observatory and knowledge exchange platform.

Beyond the pandemic, a range of long term trends have fostered social isolation, a report by the Director General notes, including: the sustained popularity of remote work and social media; the decline of extended family structures and the rise of single-occupancy households; increased motorized mobility that reduces street interactions; and a decline in religious practices in many countries.

Connecting people on streets, in schools and workplaces

Central Park, New York City: Well-designed outdoor spaces can foster chance encounters and more social connectivity, even in large cities.

Effectively, the resolution calls on governments to integrate policies that promote social inclusion, through a wide range of approaches. For instance, urban planning strategies can foster   more community and street interactions; education and workplace reforms can also support more social connectivity, as well as community mental health services that are accessible before problems become too severe.

The resolution urges WHO to provide technical assistance, coordinate research and develop guidelines for member states.

Conflict, displacement and natural disaster also tear apart social networks

Burkina Faso’s delegate highlighted the mental fallout of terrorism and displacement.

Delegates from Burkina Faso, Palestine, Vanuatu and others detailed how conflict, displacement and natural disasters also tear at the fabric of social networks, leaving people vulnerable to mental illness and neglect.

“Millions in Palestine are in need of mental health care and support,” said Palestine’s delegate, referring to the conflict in Gaza where the trauma of conflict, injury and death has been accompanied by the repeated forced displacement of communities and families, tearing social networks apart. 

The delegate from Burkina Faso highlighted the mental health fallout of terrorism and displacement, while Haiti cited the psychological strain caused by the current atmosphere of political instability, gang violence, and related displacement, not to mention the legacy of natural disasters like the 2010 earthquake. Vanuatu’s delegate connected social isolation to climate-related challenges like sea-level rise and loss of cultural sites. 

Thai happiness scale and other social experimentation

Social media has also reduced physical interactions in many settings, leading to more social isolation amongst young people.

Social disconnection isn’t just a problem in low-income or war-torn countries. The UK delegate described how the country launched a loneliness strategy in 2018.

Elsewhere, countries pointed to policy experimentation. Ireland described its media campaign targeting loneliness in older adults. Japan, which also has a large ageing population, outlined its new national plan to counter isolation, including creating more spaces that foster community interaction and making it easier for people to seek support. Such efforts also dovetail with the WHA’s Global Action Plan on Public Health Response to Dementia (2017-2025), which was extended for another six years by the Assembly, insofar as none of the targets outlined in the action plan for better management and support of people with dementia have so far been achieved.

In other moves, Australia shared details of a national wellbeing framework that tracks indicators such as social connection. The delegate from Thailand, which has ranked seventh on a global happiness index, told the committee that the country has introduced a national “Happiness Scale,” which it plans to integrate into its national health surveys.

In Mexico, officials mentioned the ongoing integration of social health services with primary care and involving community structures to build social resilience. Kenya said it has launched workplace wellness policies and peer support networks, while Uruguay is collecting loneliness data to guide targeted interventions.

Youth delegates from Germany, Lithuania, Estonia and beyond also highlighted the need for the right policies for the young demographics. 

“We cannot expect children and youth to tackle addictive technologies on their own,” said Slovenia’s youth delegate. “We need policy changes that protect real-world social bonds.” This echoed the session’s focus on growing concerns that digital dependence is reshaping human interaction, especially among the young. Delegates noted that screen time, remote work, and social media algorithms may be increasing feelings of isolation.

Estonia’s youth delegate: calling for targeted policies on social media addiction and dependence.

Measuring a quiet emergency 

There was also a debate on how to measure what is often invisible. Countries called for better data collection tools and evidence-based policy guidelines. Some warned that without concrete indicators, efforts risk drifting into well-meaning rhetoric. “Measuring loneliness is not as straightforward as counting hospital beds or immunization rates,” said one delegate. “But we have to start somewhere.” 

WHO’s new Commission on Social Connection, formed in 2024, has a three-year mandate to study the issue and support national strategies. Its goals include building a global evidence base and creating practical toolkits for governments.

Meanwhile, some countries are embedding social connection into universal health coverage plans. Others are tying it to climate resilience, school health, or anti-poverty programs. Brazil emphasized the importance of recognizing inequalities in how loneliness is experienced, noting that marginalized populations such as incarcerated individuals, indigenous communities, and elderly women often face the highest risks.

 “Loneliness is not experienced the same way by all. Inequality determines who suffers most,” Brazil’s delegate said

Shared struggle 

Young people meet up in a park in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that saw fierce fighting in 2023, when Azerbaijan reconquered the region from a breakaway Armenia government.

Rich or poor, during peace and in times of war, what the WHA session highlighted is that social isolation is a shared struggle — and potentially a unifying one. 

And the WHA resolution is only a starting point. Implementing it requires political will, funding, and cross-sector partnerships.

While the Assembly may have elevated the conversation, delegates noted that the work ahead lies in city councils, health ministries and local communities. There is also the reality that social connection policies will have to compete for funding with traditional health priorities.

Member States also raised the issue of stigma, both around mental health and around admitting to loneliness. Several delegates advocated for public awareness campaigns to normalize conversations about social wellbeing. Others suggested that policies like “social prescriptions” where doctors refer patients to community activities, could help bridge the gap between clinical care and social engagement.

Looking ahead, some countries signaled plans to pilot new programs, drawing on lessons from the WHA session. The Philippines, for example, highlighted its integration of psychosocial support in emergency response. India mentioned its Elderline initiative, which offers social and mental support to older citizens. 

Going forward, a formal WHO report is expected in the coming year. Meanwhile, civil society organizations called for governments to involve communities in designing programs that promote connection.

“Social connection is everyone’s business,” said Li, echoing the concerns raised by youth leaders. “And the need for teachers, employers, faith leaders, and urban planners to take this seriously.”

Image Credits: Brett L/Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0., Sergio Calleja/Flickr , Wikimedia/Pizzalover6, Adam Jones/Flickr.

Member states discussing NCDs in the World Health Assembly’s Committee A

“This is the most important year in the history of non-communicable diseases (NCDs),” declared Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, at the World Heart Federation’s (WHF) 2025 Summit on the eve of the World Health Assembly (WHA).

ON 25 September, the United Nations (UN) hosts the Fourth High-Level Meeting (HLM) on NCDs and mental health. The world’s biggest killer is a major focus of this week’s World Health Assembly, as WHO, member states and civil society gear up for the September event.  In the lead-up, the WHA also approved new initiatives promoting the better integration of kidney health,  lung health, as well as vision impairment and hearing loss into primary healthcare systems. 

But industry interference, lack of funds and poor policies and enforcement at country level remain critical obstacles in the pathway to raising the level of ambition for the High Level Meeting – and effectively reducing NCDs. To date, only 19 countries are on track to meet the global target of reducing NCDs by a third by 2030.

Out of the 19 countries on track, 10 are European nations, as well as high-income New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea.

“Progress has stalled since 2015,”  a spokesperson for NCD Alliance (NCDA) told the WHA’s Committee A on Friday. “This stagnation is not due to a lack of evidence, but as a result of under-investment in health systems and health-harming industry interference.”

UN’s ‘zero draft’ declaration

The UN High Level Meeting on NCDs will take place on September 25, on the margins of the General Assembly meeting in New York City.

The Zero Draft of the HLM’s political declaration focuses on three key priorities: tobacco control, hypertension and improving mental health care. It proposes global targets of: 150 million fewer people using tobacco, 150 million more people controlling their hypertension and 150 million more people having access to mental health care by 2030.

NCDA CEO Katie Dain said that the positives of the draft are concrete targets, situating health as part of the broader development nexus and elevating mental health issues, as well.

The draft advocates for countries to impose excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened drinks at levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help achieve this – a policy that is gaining more global traction now in light of the drastic funding cuts for global health.

Taxes on unhealthy foods and sugary sweetened beverages (SSBs), by country as of June 2024.

The NCDA and other civil society groups have been advocating for such taxes for several years as they offer a” triple win of raising revenue, reducing consumption of unhealthy products, and so reducing health costs”, said Alison Cox, the alliance’s director of policy and advocacy.

The NCDA also wants a tax on ultra-processed food high in fat, salt, and sugar and  “corrective taxes on fossil fuels” – as well as “subsidy reforms that support access to healthy, sustainable diets and clean energy sources”, according to its response to the zero draft.

Taxes – and bribes

Dr Viroj Tangcharoensathien (left), Dr Tom Frieden,  World Heart Federation (WHF) president Dr Jagat Narula, Nupur Lalvani and NCD Alliance CEO Katie Dain address the World Heart Federation Summit Sunday, 18 May, on the eve of the World Health Assembly.

While many see taxes as a panacea, Dr Viroj Tangcharoensathien of the International Health Policy Program in Thailand, warned that poor governance in some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has enabled harmful industries to bribe officials to undermine taxes.

Around 42% of high income countries have met the 75% tobacco tax rate recommended by WHO, in comparison to only 12% in LMICs and 3% in low–income countries, he told the WHF summit.

Dr Tom Frieden, a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control, who now heads Resolve to Save Lives, told the summit that “only 13% of people live in countries where there’s adequate tobacco taxation.”

Frieden added that issues undermining effective NCD taxes include “bribes from the killer industries to the people who make decisions; payment of farmers to go grow tobacco when it’s not economically viable but they want the tobacco farmer lobby in the country; payment to ‘astroturf groups’ in country to lobby [and] payment to news entities to cover taxation as if it’s a form of extortion.” 

Climate and NCDs: deepening links and demands for WHO support

A fire in a favela in Brazil

Over the past week at the WHA, WHO member states have described both their NCD problems, how they are addressing them, and the help they need – with the underlying lament being the lack of resources.

Several countries spoke about climate-related issues that are both exacerbating the NCD burden as well as hampering access to treatment – in extreme weather scenarios for instance. 

Three-quarters of deaths in countries in WHO’s Western Pacific region are from NCDs, but “the adverse effects of climate change, frequent natural disasters and other competing priorities have impeded progress on all aspects of NCD prevention and control”, Samoa told the WHA, speaking for the region’s nations.

Assistance for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific and other regions, needs to address “the environment-nutrition nexus”, added Samoa.

Notably, a new WHO draft action plan on Climate Change and Health is up for consideration by member states at this WHA session.

Despite the huge demand from many low- and middle-income member states for WHO support to address burgeoning climate-related health impacts, a final debate on the new WHO action plan was delayed until Monday, after a major oil producing state started to raise last minute objections, Health Policy Watch, has learned.  

Sight, hearing, kidney and lung health

Construction worker in Texas, where the state governor in 2023, order the cancellation of municipal rules in Austin and Dallas mandating water breaks for outdoor workers.

On Friday, the WHA also approved three resolutions that aim to: improve the detection of vision impairment and hearing loss at primary healthcare leavel, as well as ensuring better integration of kidney health and lung health prevention, diagnosis and treatment into PHC.

Member states also supported 17 November being observed as World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day to increase global awareness of the only cancer that can be prevented by a vaccine.

Around 9% of the global population lives with kidney disease, one of the fastest-growing causes of death globally that is projected to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2050, according to the WHO, WHA delegates also noted in the debate. 

That issue, as well, is closely associated with climate change in largely unrecognized ways. Namely, outdoor workers’ exposures to rising temperatures exacerbates risks of dehydration and heat stress, which over time, can lead to kidney failure. 

The problem of growing heat stress is worldwide – including high-income countries such as the USA, where the state of Texas, in 2023, cancelled rules requiring outdoor workers to get regular water breaks.

Concerns about kidney failure among outdoor workers returning home from Gulf countries have also gained traction, as per a 2022 report by the Vital Signs Project, by a coalition of NGOs in Nepal, the Philippines, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom, which aim to raise awareness about migrant worker deaths in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 

Air pollution a major driver of NCDs

Related to that, air pollution is also one of the world’s biggest drivers of NCDs, including heart disease and high blood pressure as well as  chronic lung disease and lung cancers. And yet it has remained a kind of “orphan” issue in the NCD agenda, with no target for reducing harmful air pollution exposures proposed in this year’s High Level Draft Declaration either.

In fact, more than half of the 7 milllion deaths from air pollution are in fact due to cardiovascular diseases, namely heart disease and stroke, according to a World Heart Federation analysis released during last year’s World Health Assembly.  Already, cardiovascular disease is the world’s top killer, claiming more than 20 million lives each year.

And “this will only get worse” over the next 15 years, warned the World Bank’s Helena Naber at a clean air event in Geneva on Friday, reporting on the results of a new Bank analysis.

Air pollution darkens ski in Delhi during a November 2024 seasonal emergency.

“Even if countries successfully implement all their energy climate and air pollution control policies and measures that are announced or planned now over the next 15 years, by 2040 we will still see a rise of 21% in the number of people who are exposed to pm 2.5 levels above [the WHO guideline] of five micrograms per cubic meter, and this will be due to combined effects of population growth and economic expansion – and as a percent increase, the highest will be in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

While the ballooning array of NCDs is a challenge, even for the most advanced countries, for low and middle income countries, the combined effects of dirty air, unhealthy foods, alcohol and tobacco are even more devastating in low and middle income countries that lack the health system resources to cope.  

Meanwhile, low-income countries such as Cameroon told the WHA that the increase in NCDs, particularly diabetes, has come with “exorbitant costs and unequal access to innovative technology, medication and treatment”. 

Ambitions for the UN High-Level Meeting

Unhealthy and ultraprocessed foods are adding to NCD risks in developing countries.

Poland, representing the European Union, told the WHA it wants “an ambitious, human rights and evidence-based political declaration” at the HLM to reverse the lack of progress on NCDs.

“We call for a comprehensive approach to NCDs and mental health across the life course. This includes health promotion, prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care,” said Poland.

Denmark, representing the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, expressed three ambitions for the HLM declaration: that it strengthens prevention and health promotion; addresses risk factors behind NCDs and poor mental health, including tobacco, nicotine products, alcohol and unhealthy foods; and protects people in vulnerable situations. 

In this regard, it wants children and adolescents protected “from harmful digital exposure and irresponsible marketing of alcohol, tobacco, nicotine and unhealthy foods”.

Women take part in a programme to prevent NCDs by promoting healthy diets in Tulagi, Solomon Islands.

Portugal called for “reshaping” where people live and make decisions. “Healthier food systems, active mobility and protection from harmful exposures must become the norm. This requires active engagement, not just of health ministries, but also education, urban planning, transport and the private sector,” Portugal told the WHA.

Australia acknowledged the complexities: “NCDs must be addressed by tackling the wider determinants of health,” but “the risk factors are complex, interconnected and extend far beyond individual health behaviours.”

Addressing the WHA on Friday, the World Heart Federation appealed for more ambitious targets to address cardiovascular disease, including “targeted action to treat 500 million more people with hypertension by 2030 and for 50% global hypertension control by 2030; at least 50% excise tax on tobacco, alcohol and sugar sweetened beverages, and the adoption of WHO air quality guidelines”.

The World Heart Federation speaker appeals for more ambitious targets to end NCDs in the UN political declaration.

A range of other non-state actors addressing the WHA called for an end to “siloed approaches to NCDs” – although they, too, are organised in silos.

NCDA CEO Katie Dain told the WHF summit that the HLM needs to “be about implementation of what works, investment and financing, particularly with a strong call for health taxes, and integration of NCDs” into PHC and universal health coverage.

But the challenges are enormous, particularly in light of dwindling finances. 

“It is only during a crisis that you can make disruptive change,” said Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar. “This crisis [of unprecedented financial disruption] is a moment for us to revisit the duplications, the fragmentation, the mission creep that crept into the system over time.

“We need a ‘one-window’ [health] system” for a woman who comes to a primary health care facility via public transport and needs her contraceptive, child immunisation and NCD needs addressed all at once, Nishtar told the WHF summit.

-Elaine Ruth Fletcher contributed reporting to this story.

Image Credits: Sven Petersen/Flickr, WHO, United Nations , WHO, Denys Argyriou/ Unsplash, Josh Olalde/ Unsplash, Chetan Bhattacharji, WHO / Blink Media, Neil Nuia.

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appeals to Israel to open the aid gates.

WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made an emotional appeal to Israel on Thursday to end its 80-day blockade of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid into Gaza, asking “if you can have mercy?” and adding: “the war is hurting Israel, and it will not bring a lasting solution.” 

Fighting back tears, the Director General said, “People are starving; 81% of Gazans are under constant displacement orders, and the hospitals are on their knees.

“I can feel how people in Gaza would feel. I can visualize it. I can hear the sounds.. It’s really wrong to weaponize food, to weaponize medical supplies,” said the DG, noting he also suffers from PTSD due to his experiences in war-torn Ethiopia as a child.   

Gaza in mid-April: displacement and malnutrition

“A call for peace is in the best interest of Israel itself. The war is hurting Israel, and it will not bring a lasting solution. So I ask again…I ask if you can have mercy. It’s good for you, and good for the Palestinians and good for humanity,” Tedros said.

“And while saying this, I understand the situation in which the hostages are living,” he added,  referring to his own past meetings with released Israeli hostages.  “But I would still say that the ball is in Israel’s court, and I would expect more from Israel to contribute to lasting peace.”

Tedros was speaking at the end of the second day of bitter World Health Assembly debates over two WHA measures decrying health conditions in the “Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory,” with most of the focus on Gaza. 

Thursday’s resolution, essentially an updated version of a 2023 measure denouncing the devasting impacts on Palestinians of a war that began 7 October with a bloody  Hamas incursion into Israel, was approved by a vote of 114-2, with 55 WHA delegates absent or abstaining.  On Wednesday, another China and Egypt-backed decision on “health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory and occupied Syrian Golan’, passed with a majority of 104-4, after several hours of debate. 

100 trucks of flour and food awaiting final permission to cross into Gaza  

Louise Wateridge, UN aid worker at a warehouse in Amman this week, stocked with supplies waiting for Israeli approval to enter Gaza.

Even as Thursday’s vote was taking place, there were signs that the Israeli blockade may finally be lifting. While only a handful of trucks  entered Gaza over the past few days, nearly 100 trucks filled with flour and other vital supplies were poised to enter Gaza Thursday evening, WHO officials reported, after having crossed the first set of Israeli controls at its Kerem Shalom passage. 

But both WHO delegates as well as UN humanitarian agencies remain nervous about how fast the aid may really move, as well as Israel’s declared plan to start delivering food and medicine directly, through a private United States contractor – sometime in the near future. 

Speaking of the private aid plan on Wednesday, WHO’s head of Health Emergencies Mike Ryan, said cautiously,  “We will work with any mechanism that works.”

But during the two-month ceasefire from January-March, some 25,000 trucks entered Gaza, coordinated by the UN agencies while “other mechanisms, especially those using private subcontractors, have proven themselves to be utterly ineffective and sometimes laughable,” Ryan pointed out. He was referring to a US-engineered plan to deliver aid via the sea in the early phases of the war, before the pontoon bridge delivery system sunk off of the coast of Gaza. 

Half a million Gazans on verge of starvation

WHO Health Emergencies Executive Director Mike Ryan – half a million Gazans could die from hunger.

Ryan also stressed the urgency of the situation, after more than 80 day blockade, and a situation of famine, or near famine, rated as IPC4-5 hunger crisis, throughout Gaza as per the latest reported of the UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

“Half a million Palestinians are currently in Gaza classified as IPC 5. Do you know what IPC five means? It means they will die immediately, unless they receive food and assistance. Now there’s a statistic for you. Go away and think about that,” the veteran WHO emergencies director declared. 

“Israel must live up to and respect its obligations, and should stop using forced starvation against innocent Palestinian civilians,” said Ibrahim Khraishi, Palestine’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, at Thursday’s debate.

Ibrahim Khraishi, Palestinian Ambassador in Geneva

Along with the aid blockade, criticism is mounting even among Israel’s staunchest allies over not only the blockade but the expanded assault on Hamas that has shaken Gaza over the past several weeks. WHO and other aid agencies have reported on the repeated forced location of thousands of civilians; shrinking humanitarian spaces; more schools and hospitals shelled, shuttered, or in the line of attack; and dozens of casualties daily, including women and children.  Nearly 53,000 Gaza Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the start of the war, while around 1,700 Israelis have died in the hostilities. 

Member states denounce Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid in Gaza 

United Kingdom recalls Monday’s joint British, French and Canadian statement on Gaza

On Monday, France, the United Kingdom and Canada issued a stiff warning to Israel on Monday over the deteriorating situation.

 “As my Prime Minister made clear earlier this week in his joint statement with President Macron and Prime Minister Carney, the military escalation in Gaza is wholly disproportionate,” said the United Kingdom’s delegate to the WHA on Thursday. 

“We acknowledge indications of a limited restart of aid, but Israel has blocked humanitarian aid entering Gaza for over two months, food, medicine, essential supplies are exhausted,” the delegate said, while also offering “heartfelt condolences, to Israel over the shooting deaths Wednesday evening of two Embassy employees in Washington DC by an attacker shouting “Free Palestine”. 

“As Mike Ryan said so eloquently …. the population now faces starvation. Gaza’s people must receive the aid they need. Humanitarian principles matter…  We urge Israel to allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately, and to enable the work of the UN and other humanitarian agencies to save lives now,” the UK said.

IPC assessment for Gaza – deep red crosses indicate Phase 5 famine risk, affecting nearly half a million of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians.0

As for Israel’s recently-announced plan to put in place its own mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid with the support of a US-contractor, France and other delegates, described the plans as “inadequate”, calling on Israel to allow UN agencies to resume their work. 

“An immediate return to the cease fire is essential, including release of all of the hostages and a permanent end to hostilities,” said Poland, in a statement on behalf of the European Union, on Thursday. 

“The EU is deeply concerned about recurring accidents resulting in the death of humanitarian aid workers in Gaza, and calls for accountability, unimpeded humanitarian aid access and distribution, as well as the supply of electricity to Gaza must be resumed immediately

The EU statement also “deplored the refusal of Hamas to hand over the remaining hostages,” saying it was time to “break the cycle of violence, and move toward a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security.” 

Iran opposes reference to hostage release; Israel opposes duplicating debates  

Iran rejects call for Hamas release of Israeli hostages in WHA measure approved Wednesday.

In Thursday’s vote, Hungary was the only member state along with Israel to oppose the resolution. But some countries that supported the two measures also expressed reservations over the lack of language holding Hamas accountable for its part in perpetuating the cycle of violence. Thursday’s resolution also contained no reference at all to the 58 Israeli hostages who remain under Hamas control – only 24 of whom may still be alive, the Netherlands noted.  

“We would have liked to see a call for the release of hostages and the condemnation of the appalling violence by Hamas that took place during the during and after the attacks on October 7,” said the Netherlands” delegate.   

On the other side side of the divide, Iran and a handful of allies disassociated their countries from from a reference in Wednesday’s measure calling for  “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza, including children, women and older persons.”

The same paragraph also called for the “unconditional release of all Palestinian persons arbitrarily detained in Israel and victims of enforced disappearance and immediate humanitarian access to hostages and detainees in line with the International Law (PP26);”

“Iran strongly objects to the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages held in Gaza..and formally disassociates from this part of the paragraph,” the Islamic Republic delegate said.  

Israel’s Ambassador Daniel Meron, meanwhile, protested Thursday’s debate over Gaza as duplicating the hours long session on Wednesday –   highlighting what he described as a waste of resources for the budget-strapped UN health agency. 

Israel’s Ambassador in Geneva, Daniel Meron

“This decision here calls on the DG to report on the health situation in Gaza to three different bodies on four different occasions over the course of one year,” Meron said.

“Israel has never objected to the support program for the Palestinian population. However, we oppose politicizing health during these crucial times for this organization, one would expect to see words put to action when speaking about duplication, overlap and redundancy, poor allocation of resources and time.”

Ukraine debate also a focus on Thursday 

WHA votes on a resolution on the war in Ukraine

Along with the two measures regarding Gaza and Palestine, a third debate on the brutal war ongoing in Ukraine took up much of the remaining time of WHA delegates on Thursday. 

The decision on “the health emergency in Ukraine and refugee-receiving and hosting countries stemming from the Russian Federation’s aggression,” finally passed by a majority of 59-10 – but with 63 abstentions while 56 member states were absent from the vote altogether. 

An initiative by Belarus, Russia, China and Nicaragua to fold the Ukraine issue into the general WHO reporting on other health emergencies, was rejected by a vote of 50-12, also with 63 abstentions. 

The large number of absent voters or abstentions in the Ukraine polling seemed to reflect, however, advances in Russia’s diplomatic campaign of attrition, which has seen the gradual erosion of support for Ukraine in developing world capitals over a war that is perceived as Europe’s affair – a perception that the new US Administration has now seemed to adopt as well.  

But that doesn’t diminish the crisis still being faced on the ground in Ukraine, which continues to be subject to chronic, relentless Russian bombing of its cities, including thousands of attacks on health care facilities since the war began, according WHO. 

Out of a population of 10 million,  nearly 13,000 have died since the start of the war, according to the WHO’s report to the WHA.

“We have 3.9 million with diagnosably severe psychological stress and mental health disorders,” Ryan said. “More worrying, attacks on health care continue. There have been over 3,380 attacks since the beginning of the conflict (in 2022), but a 32% increase from 2023-2024.  So this is becoming more frequent, and it’s interesting in the context that the area that’s currently in dispute, or where there’s active fighting, is actually smaller than it was at the beginning fo the conflict.”

WHA also making other moves to enhance Palestine’s status

In contrast, the issue of Gaza and Palestine, continues to captivate member states in all regions of the world – from Latin America to Africa and Asia.    

And two more resolutions that make further symbolic enhancements in Palestine’s quasi-state observer status also are on the agenda at this year’s WHA session. 

In a measure approved on Wednesday, member states voted to include Palestine along with other WHO member states in the mechanisms of the International Health Regulations, which monitor, alert and report on potential health emergencies.

Another WHA measure, due to be debated before the end of the session next Tuesday, would allow the flag of Palestine to be flown along with those of other member states at WHO.

Last year, WHO member states voted to grant Palestine quasi-state status, giving it virtually all of the rights and privileges of a member state, short of voting. See related story here:

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/palestine-granted-quasi-who-member-state-status-without-voting-rights/

Image Credits: OCHA, IPC .