Journal No. 6  29 May 2021

This Journal is intended to give delegates, representatives and other participants advance indications of the Health Assembly’s programme of work. Additional information can be found in the Guide for delegates to the World Health Assembly (document A74/DIV./2)

The Journal does not constitute an official record of the Health Assembly’s proceedings. The Journal is published in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish on every working day during the Health Assembly.

N° 6 Programme of meetings for Saturday, 29 May 2021

Time	Committee A Virtual Room 2	Committee B Virtual Room 1
10:00	Tenth meeting	Seventh meeting
14:30	Eleventh meeting	Eighth meeting

 

Table of contents

1. Date and working hours

2. Programme of work of the Health Assembly

3. Report of meetings

4. Arrangements for conduct of discussion in meetings

5. Announcements

Interpretation

Interpretation will be provided in the official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) to help delegates to follow the discussions. Delegates are requested to speak clearly and at a normal speaking pace to enable clear and accurate interpretation through the virtual platform. Copies of all statements should be submitted at least one hour in advance by email to interpret@who.int. Clearly indicate the name of the country delegation/group in the subject line of the email.     

Note: a statement of three minutes at normal speaking pace is equivalent to approximately 330 words.

1. Date and working hours

The working hours of the Seventy-fourth Health Assembly are from 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00 (CEST). However, the Health Assembly will exceptionally convene at 14:30 (CEST) on Saturday 29 May.

The Health Assembly will close no later than Tuesday, 1 June 2021, as decided by the Executive Board at its 148th session.

2. Programme of work of the Health Assembly

Saturday, 29 May 2021

Tenth and eleventh meetings of Committee A

10:00 and 14:30

Second report of Committee A

Document (draft) A74/62 containing one decision entitled:

-       Global action on patient safety

Review of and update on matters considered by the Executive Board

·       Item 13.4 continued

Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property

– Documents A74/9, A74/A/CONF./1 and A74/A/CONF./1 Add.1

·       Item 13.6 continued

Substandard and falsified medical products

– Document A74/9

·       Item 13.7 continued

Standardization of medical devices nomenclature

– Document A74/9

The public health implications of implementation of the Nagoya Protocol

– Document A74/9

Enhancement of laboratory biosafety

– Document A74/18

Poliomyelitis

o   Polio eradication

– Document A74/19

o   Polio transition planning and polio post-certification

– Document A74/20

If time permits:

Item 17           Public health emergencies: preparedness and response
Item 18           Mental health preparedness for and response to the COVID-19 pandemic

·         WHO’s work in health emergencies and strengthening preparedness for health emergencies and Mental health preparedness for and response to the COVID-19 pandemic continued
– Documents A74/9, A74/10 Rev.1, A74/17, A74/17 Add.1, A74/A/CONF./2, A74/A/CONF./2 Add.1, A74/A/CONF./7, A74/A/CONF./7 Add.1 and EB148/2021/REC/1, decision EB148(3)

Seventh and eighth meetings of Committee B

10:00 and 14:30

Third report of Committee B

Document (draft) A74/61 containing three resolutions entitled:

-       Scale of assessments 2022–2023

-       Protecting, safeguarding and investing in the health and care workforce

-       Strengthening nursing and midwifery: investments in education, jobs, leadership and service delivery

and four decisions entitled:

-       Report of the External Auditor

-       WHO programme and financial reports for 2020–2021, including audited financial statements for 2020

-       Status of collection of assessed contributions, including Member States in arrears in the payment of their contributions to an extent that would justify invoking Article 7 of the Constitution Situation in respect of 2020

-       Assessment of the Faroe Islands

Review of and update on matters considered by the Executive Board

·       Item 22.1

Social determinants of health

– Documents A74/9 and EB148/2021/REC/1, resolution EB148.R2

WHO global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health system within a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children

– Documents A74/21, A74/A/CONF./8 , A74/A/CONF./8 Add.1 and A74/A/CONF./8 Add.2

Monday, 31 May 2021

Twelfth and thirteenth meetings of Committee A

10:00 and 14:00

Finalization of resolutions/decisions and reports

Ninth and tenth meetings of Committee B

10:00 and 14:00

Finalization of resolutions/decisions and reports

Tuesday, 1 June 2021

Fourteenth meeting of Committee A

10:00

Finalization of resolutions/decisions and reports

Eleventh meeting of Committee B

10:00

Finalization of resolutions/decisions and reports

Seventh Plenary meeting

Immediately after conclusion of Committees A and B

Reports of the main committees

First report of Committee A

Document (draft) A74/60 containing three resolutions entitled:

-       Programme budget 2022-2023

-       Reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases through strengthening prevention and
control of diabetes

-       Oral health

and three decisions entitled:

-       Follow-up of the Political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases

-       The role of the global coordination mechanism on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in WHO’s work on multi-stakeholder engagement for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases

-       Integrated people-centred eye care, including preventable vision impairment and blindness

Second report of Committee B

Document (draft) A74/59 containing five resolutions entitled:

-       The highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities

-       Recommitting to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination

-       Salaries of staff in ungraded positions and of the Director-General

-       Agreement between the World Health Organization and the International Organization of La Francophonie

-       Participation of the Holy See in the World Health Organization

and nine decisions entitled:

-       WHO reform: governance

-       World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day

-       Review of entitlements of members of the Executive Board

-       The global health sector strategies on, respectively, HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections

-       Process for the election of the Director-General of the World Health Organization: candidates’ statements and travel support

-       Process for the election of the Director-General of the World Health Organization: contingency arrangements

-       Appointment of representatives to the WHO Staff Pension Committee

-       WHO global strategy on health, environment and climate change: the transformation needed to improve lives and well-being sustainably through healthy environments

-       The role of the health sector in the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management towards the 2020 goal and beyond

Closure of the Health Assembly

3. Report of meetings

Sixth Plenary meeting

In the Chair:
H.E Ms Dechen Wangmo (Bhutan)
President of the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly

Executive Board: election

The Health Assembly accepted the list of 12 Members entitled to designate a person to serve on the Executive Board as drawn up by the General Committee in accordance with Rule 80 of the Rules of Procedure. The following were therefore declared elected:

-       Afghanistan

-       Belarus

-       Denmark

-       France

-       Japan

-       Malaysia

-       Paraguay

-       Peru

-       Rwanda

-       Slovenia

-       Syrian Arab Republic

-       Timor-Leste

Awards

The President welcomed the distinguished recipients of the prizes and the representatives of the foundations. The Director-General was invited to address the Health Assembly.

•        2021 Sasakawa Health Prize

The President announced that the 2021 Sasakawa Health Prize has been awarded jointly to Dr Wu Hao of China and Dr Amal Saif Al-Maani of Oman.

Mr Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of the Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, addressed the Assembly on behalf of the Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation.

Dr Wu Hao and Dr Amal Saif Al-Maani received their awards and addressed the Health Assembly.

•        2021 His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion

The President announced that the 2021 His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion has been awarded to the National Center for Gerontology of China.

His Excellency, Dr Bassel Humoud Al-Sabah, Minister of Health of Kuwait, addressed the Assembly on behalf of the State of Kuwait Health Promotion Foundation.

Professor Jian Ye Wang, accepted the award on behalf of the National Center for Gerontology and addressed the Health Assembly.

•        2021 Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health

The President announced that the 2021 Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health has been awarded to the State Institution, “The National Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine”.

Dr Choo MooJin, President of the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare, addressed the Assembly on behalf of the Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Fund.

•        2021 Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion

The President announced that the 2021 Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion has been awarded to the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) of Thailand.

His Excellency, Dr Zwelini Mkhize, Minister of Health of South Africa, addressed the Assembly.

Dr Supreda Adulyanon accepted the award on behalf of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and addressed the Health Assembly.

Professor Dmytro Bazyka accepted the 2021 Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health award on behalf of the State Institution, “National Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine” and addressed the Health Assembly.

Reports of the main committees

First report of Committee B

The President (Bhutan) read out the first draft report of Committee B, document (draft) A74/58 containing one decision entitled:

-       Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan

The decision was adopted and the first draft report of Committee B was approved. Under Rule 57 of the Rules of Procedure, a delegation exercised the right of reply.

The meeting was adjourned.

Eighth meeting of Committee A

In the Chair:
Dr Adriana Amarilla (Paraguay)

The Chair opened the meeting and announced that the following items would be transferred to Committee B:

Pillar 1:

-       Item 14: Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

-       Item 15: Health workforce

-       Item 16: Committing to implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and
Adolescents’ Health (2016−2030)

Pillar 3:

-       Item 22.1: Social determinants of health

-       Item 23: WHO global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health system within a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children

Draft first report of Committee A

The Chairman called upon The Rapporteur (Professor Plamen Dimitrov [Bulgaria]) to read out the first draft report of Committee A, document (draft) A74/60 containing three resolutions entitled:

-       Programme budget 2022-2023

-       Reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases through strengthening prevention and
control of diabetes

-       Oral health

and three decisions entitled:

-       Follow-up of the Political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases

-       The role of the global coordination mechanism on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in WHO’s work on multi-stakeholder engagement for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases

-       Integrated people-centred eye care, including preventable vision impairment and blindness

The resolutions and decisions were approved and the first draft report of Committee A was adopted.

Review of and update on matters considered by the Executive Board

The Chair reopened the second grouping of agenda items, 13.1: Global action on patient safety, 13.5: Antimicrobial resistance and 13.8: Immunization Agenda 2030, and drew the Committee’s attention to the relevant documents A74/9, A74/9 Add.4, A74/10 Rev.1 and A74/10 Add.4. The Committee was invited to consider the draft decision in EB148(5) and the floor was opened for discussion.

The Chair announced that due to time constraints, discussion of these items would be suspended, and resume at its next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.

Fifth meeting of Committee B

In the Chair:
Dr Søren Brostrøm (Denmark)

Draft second report of Committee B

The Chair opened the meeting and invited the Rapporteur, Lt. Col. The Hon. Jeffrey Bostic (Barbados), to read out the draft second report of Committee B, document (draft) A74/59 containing five resolutions entitled:

-       The highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities

-       Recommitting to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination

-       Salaries of staff in ungraded positions and of the Director-General

-       Agreement between the World Health Organization and the International Organization of La Francophonie

-       Participation of the Holy See in the World Health Organization

and nine decisions entitled:

-       WHO reform: governance

-       World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day

-       Review of entitlements of members of the Executive Board

-       The global health sector strategies on, respectively, HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections

-       Process for the election of the Director-General of the World Health Organization: candidates’ statements and travel support

-       Process for the election of the Director-General of the World Health Organization: contingency arrangements

-       Appointment of representatives to the WHO Staff Pension Committee

-       WHO global strategy on health, environment and climate change: the transformation needed to improve lives and well-being sustainably through healthy environments

-       The role of the health sector in the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management towards the 2020 goal and beyond

The resolutions and decisions were approved and the second draft report of Committee B was adopted.

Audit and oversight matters

Item 30.1         Report of the External Auditor

Item 30.2         Report of the Internal Auditor

Item 30.3         External and internal audit recommendations: progress on implementation

The Chair opened the grouped agenda items 30.1, 30.2 and 30.3 and drew the Committee’s attention to the relevant documents A74/34, A74/35, A74/37 and A74/51. The Chair invited the Chair of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board to present his report. The Chair invited the External Auditor, Mr Krishna Subramania, to present his report and then opened the floor for comments. The Committee noted the reports contained in documents A74/35 and A74/37 and approved the draft decision contained in document A74/51.

The agenda item was closed.

Financial matters

Item 29.1         WHO programme and financial reports for 2020–2021, including audited financial statements for 2020

Item 29.2         Status of collection of assessed contributions, including Member States in arrears in the

payment of their contributions to an extent that would justify invoking Article 7 of the Constitution

Item 29.4         Scale of assessments 2022–2023

Item 29.6         Assessment of new Members and Associate Members

The Chairman opened the item and invited the Chair of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board to present his report, to present his report. Comments were invited from the floor and the Secretariat responded to issues raised. The Committee noted the reports contained in documents A74/28 and A74/29, adopted the draft resolution contained in document A74/32 and the draft decisions contained in documents A74/33 and A74/47.

Regarding item 29.2 Status of collection of assessed contributions, including Member States in arrears in the payment of their contributions to an extent that would justify invoking Article 7 of the Constitution, the Committee accepted the proposal of the Chair and adopted the draft decision as read out during the meeting.

The agenda item was closed.

Item 14           Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Item 15           Health workforce

o    Working for health: five-year action plan for health employment and inclusive economic growth (2017–2021)

o    Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery

Item 16           Committing to implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and
Adolescents’ Health (2016−2030)

The Chair opened the grouped agenda items and invited comments from the floor. Due to time constraints, discussion of the item was suspended and the meeting was adjourned.

Ninth meeting of Committee A

In the Chair:
Dr Adriana Amarilla (Paraguay)

Review of and update on matters considered by the Executive Board

The Chair resumed the discussion of the second grouping of agenda items, 13.1, 13.5 and 13.8. At the invitation of the Chair, the Secretariat responded to issues raised. Dr Poonam Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa and Dr Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director for Western Pacific were invited to address the Committee.

The Committee noted the reports contained in documents A74/9, A74/9 Add.4 and A74/10 Rev.1 and approved, without amendment, the draft decision in EB148(5) Global action on patient safety. At the invitation of the Chair, the Director-General Dr Tedros addressed the Committee. This grouping of agenda items was closed

The Chair opened the third grouping of agenda items, 13.4: Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property, 13.6: Substandard and falsified medical products and 13.7: Standardization of medical devices nomenclature, and invited the Committee to consider the relevant document A74/9.

Under item 13.4, the Committee was asked to give due consideration to the outcome of the intersessional consultations on the draft resolution presented to the Executive Board at its 148th session on strengthening local production of medicines and other health technologies to improve access.

The Committee was invited to consider the draft resolution contained in document A74/A/CONF./1.

At the invitation of the Chair, the representative of the Executive Board made some introductory remarks and opened the floor for discussion. Due to time constraints, discussion of the item was suspended. Consideration of this grouping of items would resume at the next meeting of Committee A.

The meeting was adjourned.

Sixth meeting of Committee B

In the Chair:
Mr Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)

Report of the Internal Auditor

Preventing sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment

The Chair opened the agenda item and invited the Chair of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board to present his report. The Director-General Dr Tedros delivered opening remarks. The Chair invited comments from the floor and the Secretariat responded to issues raised. The Committee noted the report contained in document A74/36.

The agenda item was closed.

Item 14           Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Item 15           Health workforce

o    Working for health: five-year action plan for health employment and inclusive economic growth (2017–2021)

o    Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery

Item 16           Committing to implementation of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and
Adolescents’ Health (2016−2030)

The Chair reopened the grouped agenda items and invited comments from the floor. The Secretariat responded to issues raised. The Committee noted the reports contained in documents A74/11, A74/12, A74/13, A74/14 and adopted the resolutions contained in documents A74/A/CONF./6 and A74/A/CONF./3.

The agenda item was closed

Matters for information

Item 34.1        Progress reports

The Chair announced that with regards to the progress reports contained in documents A74/43 and A74/43 Rev.1, these items have been addressed through written statements on the website.

The meeting was adjourned.

4. Arrangement for the conduct of discussion in meetings

Member States and Associate Members are invited to submit written statements for posting on the website in the language of submission in accordance with the guidelines for written statements in decision EB146(17).

Observers, invited representatives of the United Nations and of other participating and intergovernmental organizations are also invited to submit written statements in accordance with those guidelines. Non-State actors are invited to submit written statements as per the practical information for representatives of non-State actors in official relations with WHO.

In accordance with the guidelines, statements may be provided in any of the six WHO official languages and should be limited to 500 words for individual statements and 800 words for group statements. They should be submitted to statements@who.int, clearly indicating the relevant agenda item or sub-item in the subject line.

Member States and Associate Members may submit a pre-recorded video statement in place of live interventions. Video statements may be uploaded at the following link: https://bit.ly/31VHUFP. The following time limits will apply: Member States and Associate Members - three minutes and Group statements - four minutes. When uploading each video, please indicate clearly the relevant agenda item or sub-item in the description field. Videos received after the deadline, exceeding the time limits or labelled in such a way that the relevant agenda item or sub-item cannot be identified, may not be played. Video statements may be included in the live streaming and therefore will be included in the official records.

5. Announcements

The Zoom platform will be used for virtual sessions of WHA74. In order to ensure good sound quality on the virtual platform, please ensure that when taking the floor to deliver a statement, you select the language on the interpretation channel in which you are planning to speak and use high-quality headsets with echo cancelling microphones and webcam. We recommend that you use a personal computer, rather than a smartphone or tablet, and download the latest version of the Zoom software. Please deliver your statement at a moderate speed that allows for its interpretation and ensures your message is conveyed clearly and accurately.

For support related to the virtual platform, please send an email to GBS-IT-Support@who.int.            

The Plenary and Committee A and B sessions will be webcast in the six UN languages. The webcasts can be viewed on Mac and PCs, as well as all mobile devices including iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows-enabled phones.

Arabic:            https://player.4am.ch/who/20210524-0601_wha74/player.html?lang=ar

Chinese:         https://player.4am.ch/who/20210524-0601_wha74/player.html?lang=zh

English:           https://player.4am.ch/who/20210524-0601_wha74/player.html?lang=en

French:           https://player.4am.ch/who/20210524-0601_wha74/player.html?lang=fr

Russian:          https://player.4am.ch/who/20210524-0601_wha74/player.html?lang=ru

Spanish:          https://player.4am.ch/who/20210524-0601_wha74/player.html?lang=es

The World Health Assembly application allows you to receive updates on the WHA74 programme of work and access documentation directly on your mobile device. Scan the QR code below and download the application in your device.

 

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