WHA approves landmark resolutions on pandemic preparedness, climate change, and women and children’s health

In landmark resolutions, delegates to the 77th World Health Assembly approved new measures to help prepare the world for potential pandemics, address climate change, and improve the health of women and children.

The assembly, which met in Geneva from May 27 to June 1, notably passed historic amendments to the International Health Regulations to strengthen pandemic prevention and address global failures identified during the COVID-19 pandemic. The amendments require, for example, all countries to conduct surveillance for potential international disease threats and report those threats to the WHO immediately.

The amendments also include a definition of a “pandemic emergency” and outline a rigorous and coordinated international response to such an event, including strengthening equitable access to medical products and financial support to low- and middle-income countries to help them prevent, prepare, and respond.

“Tonight we have all won and the world has won. You have made the world safer,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The historic decisions taken today demonstrate a common desire by member states to protect their own people, and the world’s, from the shared risk of public health emergencies and future pandemics.”

Delegates did not vote on the much-anticipated comprehensive pandemic treaty after negotiations to finalize the document broke down the week before the WHA. But they did commit to finalizing and approving such a treaty within the next year.

Representatives from countries around the world join the assembly each year in May to sign off on the WHO’s priorities. This year delegates approved a four-year, US$11.1 billion strategy for global health with six key objectives: responding to climate change; addressing the social determinants and root causes of poor health; advancing primary health care and essential health system capacities for universal health coverage; improving health service coverage and financial protection to address inequities and gender inequalities; preventing, mitigating, and preparing for health risks from all hazards; and health emergency preparedness.

In his welcome address, Dr. Ghebreyesus reminded delegates that “promoting and protecting health in any country benefits all countries. So, cooperation is in the interest of each and every nation. It does it for its own sake,” Dr. Ghebreyesus added. “And it also recognized the reverse: that unequal development in promoting health and controlling diseases is a common danger.”

The assembly also approved a landmark resolution calling on the global health community to prioritize combating climate change and rallied governments around the world to urgently incorporate health considerations into national and international climate policy frameworks.

The assembly coincided with a heatwave in India, during which the nation’s capital, Delhi, recorded its highest ever temperature at 52.9 degrees Celsius (127.22°F). Global data indicates that 2023 was the hottest year on record. Researchers expect temperatures in 2024 to reach similar heights. According to the WHO, climate change is expected to cause about 250,000 additional deaths per year from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.

Delegates also endorsed a new global action plan and monitoring framework for infection prevention and control from 2024 to 2030. The plan includes targets, actions, and indicators to support national and facility-level infection control programs. Relatedly, delegates approved a resolution to accelerate national and global responses to antimicrobial resistance. This is in advance of the second UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance, which will take place in September.

In an effort to spur progress in maternal and child mortality, delegates passed a resolution calling on countries to expand universal health care and strengthen primary health care. Across 131 countries, progress against maternal mortality has stagnated since 2016. More than 80% of nations are on track to miss their Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing maternal deaths to under 70 for every 100,000 live births. It is worth noting the exceptions to this trend, such as Bangladesh and Ethiopia, among a handful of low and middle-income countries that have made remarkable progress in reducing maternal and child mortality.

To reduce maternal mortality and child mortality, delegates agreed to invest in stronger primary health care, well-stocked facilities, well-trained health workers, safe water and sanitation, and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services, in addition to expanding access to emergency services such as urgent obstetric care and intensive care units for small and sick newborns.

They passed a resolution to boost social participation in national health planning and implementation. The resolution is aimed at reducing health inequities and the erosion of trust in health systems, which played a large role in undermining governments' COVID-19 pandemic response and continues to play a large role in lowering demand for health care, including demand for childhood immunizations.

The goal of the resolution is to ensure that people, communities, and civil society play a larger role in influencing the health systems. This responds to the growing body of evidence demonstrating the importance of social participation, specifically the importance of including communities in the decisions that impact their health care and well-being.

WHA delegates also commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization. The program, which has expanded access to childhood immunization around the world, is estimated to have saved 154 million lives. They also passed a resolution on increasing availability, equitable access, and oversight of transplantation of human cells, tissues, and organs.