3 Big Ideas Emerge from the 2018 World Health Assembly

June 18, 2018Is the World Health Organization reembracing its original principles?As the World Health Assembly (WHA) ended last month, I was left wondering: is this a new and improved World Health Organization (WHO), or is it simply becoming what its founders intended all along?Here are a few things that made this annual meeting of the WHO different from past years, and offer us some insight about how the organization might be evolving.A physical focus on noncommunicable diseasesThe day before WHA officially began, hundreds of participants and curious locals followed the WHO ’s new Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusin on a brisk walk around Geneva to commemorate the struggle against noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and celebrate health, well-being, and the WHO’s 70th birthday.Official short yoga breaks, during which the hundreds of delegates stretched, breathed, and moved, broke up hours of deliberations in the main committee rooms. And for the most part, the agenda ran on track and on time.The focus on NCDs continued throughout the WHA, as the assembly confirmed the need to support countries in strengthening health systems to better prevent, detect, manage, and treat them.A new 5-year plan and the 1 billion goalsHealth is “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” —WHO founding documents, 1946The WHO ’s 13th General Program of Work (GPW) 2019-2023 —which will guide the organizat...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: news