Journal No. 7  31 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° 7 Programme of meetings for Monday, 31 May 2021

Time	Plenary Virtual Room 1	Committee A Virtual Room 1
10:00		Twelfth meeting
14:00	Seventh Plenary 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.

149th session of the Executive Board, 2 June 2021

The 149th session of the Board is scheduled to open at 10:00 on Wednesday, 2 June 2021. The session will be held over a one-day period. The proposed working hours are 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00.

The agenda for EB149 and all other meeting documents are available on the WHO website at: https://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_eb149.html.

 

 

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).

2. Programme of work of the Health Assembly

Monday, 31 May 2021

Twelfth meeting of Committee A

10:00

Draft third report of Committee A

Document (draft) A74/64 containing one resolution entitled:

-       Strengthening local production of medicines and other health technologies to improve access

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, A74/10 Rev.1 Add.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)

Finalization of resolutions/decisions and reports

Seventh Plenary meeting

14:00

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 A

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

-       Global action on patient safety

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

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

Fourth report of Committee B

Document (draft) A74/63 containing two resolutions entitled:

-       Social determinants of health

-       Ending violence against children through health systems strengthening and multisectoral approaches

High-level closing of the Health Assembly

3. Report of meetings

Tenth meeting of Committee A

In the Chair:
Dr Adriana Amarilla (Paraguay)

Draft second report of Committee A

The Chair opened the meeting and called upon the Rapporteur (Professor Plamen Dimitrov [Bulgaria]) to read out the draft second report of Committee A, document (draft) A74/62 containing one decision entitled:

-       Global action on patient safety

The decision was approved and the draft second report of Committee A was adopted.

Review of and update on matters considered by the Executive Board

The Chair reopened 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 those delegations who had requested to speak at the previous meeting to take the floor.

The Secretariat responded to issues raised. The Committee noted the report contained in document A74/9 and approved the draft resolution as contained in document A74/A/CONF./1, thus closing the agenda item.

The WHO Director-General Dr Tedros addressed the Committee.

Item 19           The public health implications of implementation of the Nagoya Protocol

Item 20           Enhancement of laboratory biosafety

Item 21           Poliomyelitis

o   Polio eradication

o   Polio transition planning and polio post-certification

The Chair opened the grouping of items and invited the Committee to consider the relevant documents A74/9, A74/18, A74/19 and A74/20. Comments were invited from the floor. Due to time constraints, discussion of the items was suspended and the meeting adjourned.

Seventh meeting of Committee B

In the Chair:
Mr Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)

Draft third 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 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

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

Item 22           Review of and update on matters considered by the Executive Board

o   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

The Chair opened the grouped agenda items 22 and 23 and drew the Committee’s attention to the relevant documents A74/9, EB148.R2 contained in document EB148/2021/REC/1, A74/21, A74/A/CONF./8, A74/A/CONF.8 Add.1 and A74/A/CONF.8 Add.2. The Chair invited comments from the floor.

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.

Eleventh meeting of Committee A

In the Chair:
Dr Adriana Amarilla (Paraguay)

Item 19           The public health implications of implementation of the Nagoya Protocol

Item 20           Enhancement of laboratory biosafety

Item 21           Poliomyelitis

o   Polio eradication

o   Polio transition planning and polio post-certification

The Chair reopened the discussion of the grouped items 19, 20 and 21 and invited comments from the floor. The Secretariat responded to issues raised and the floor was given to Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa and Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. The Chair addressed the Committee on item 20, proposing that reports are submitted to the World Health Assembly in 2023 and 2025. The Committee approved this proposal. The reports contained in documents A74/9, A74/18, A74/19 and A74/20 were noted and the Director-General Dr Tedros, provided some closing remarks, thus closing the group of agenda items.

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

The Chair reopened item 17: Public health emergencies: preparedness and response and item 18: Mental health preparedness for and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Chair reminded the Committee of the relevant documents A74/9, A74/10 Rev.1 and A74/17.

The Committee was invited to consider the draft decision contained in document A74/10 Rev.1, the draft decision contained in document A74/17, the draft resolution contained in document A74/A/CONF./2, and the draft decision contained in document A74/A/CONF./7.

The Chair invited those delegations who had previously requested to speak under these agenda items to take the floor.

It was announced that due to time constraints, discussion of these items would be suspended, and resume at the next meeting of Committee A.

The meeting was adjourned.

Eighth meeting of Committee B

In the Chair:
Dr Søren Brostrøm (Denmark)

Item 22           Review of and update on matters considered by the Executive Board

o   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

The Chair reopened the grouped agenda items 22 and 23 and invited comments from the floor. 

The Secretariat responded to issues raised. The Committee noted the reports contained in documents A74/9, A74/21 and adopted draft resolution EB148.R2. The Director-General Dr Tedros then addressed the Committee regarding agenda item 22.1.

The Chair invited the Committee to consider the draft resolution contained in document A74/A/CONF./8 and the amendment contained in document A74/A/CONF./8 Add 2. The Chair invited comments from the floor and the Committee adopted the draft resolution contained in document A74/A/CONF./8 as amended. 

The agenda item was closed. 

Several delegations used the right of reply under Rule 36 of the Rules of Procedure.

The Chair invited the Secretariat to read out the draft fourth report of Committee B, document (draft) A74/63 containing two resolutions entitled:

-       Social determinants of health

-       Ending violence against children through health systems strengthening and multisectoral approaches

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

The meeting was closed.

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 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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