WHO Executive Board Wraps Up Post-WHA Work

By Julia Fraser for Intellectual Property Watch

At the World Health Organization 135^th Executive Board meeting this week, member states discussed improvements to cut down on lengthy World Health Assemblies, and adopted two reports for further discussion on surgical care and anaesthesia, and the health impact of air pollution.

The EB took place on 26 May, ending one day early.

Member states discussed last week’s 67^th World Health Assembly and made suggestions to improve efficiency as the Assembly struggled to finish in time this year and delegations were juggling parallel committees and working groups, a difficult task particularly for the smaller delegations.

Many member states suggested methods to limit the number of agenda items. Japan, China and Liberia and others complained of the length of time spent by member states recounting individual country situations that were not conducive to debates, and suggested that country reports instead be posted electronically.

However, others such as Brazil said national realities can be very important sometimes, and the right balance needs to be found. Cuba also suggested documents could be made briefer and highlight key aspects for discussion.

The Board also adopted two reports on “strengthen emergency and essential surgical care and anaesthesia as a component of universal health coverage” available here [pdf] and “health and the environment – addressing the health impact of air pollution” available here [pdf].

These will be put on the provisional agenda for the next Executive Board meeting in January 2015 to discuss appropriate WHO and member state action.