World Health Assembly - WHA

74th Session of World Health Assembly – WHA took place virtually from May 24th to June 1st 2021. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and the Chairman of WHO Executive Board virtually chaired the assembly. Dr Tedros, Director-General of the World Health Organisation was also present on the occasion.

The World Health Assembly and the Executive Board governs the decision making of the World Health Organization WHO. 

Since the World Health Assembly has been in the news recently, questions based on it can be asked under the current affairs section of various competitive exams and is also important for the IAS Exam.

Hence, in this article aspirants will get information on the 74th session of the World Health Assembly and other relevant facts to prepare for the upcoming UPSC Prelims. 

Also, check out the links important for your exam preparation – 

World Health Assembly – Overview

1. The World Health Assembly is the forum through which the World Health Organization is governed by its 194 member states.
2. It is the world’s highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states. 
3. The World Health Assembly is attended by delegates from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.
4. The World Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland and the members of the WHA generally meet every year in May.
5. In other words, the World Health Assembly is the Parliament of WHO.

Functions of World Health Assembly

The main functions of the WHA are –

• To determine the policies of the Organization,
• Appoint the Director-General, 
• Supervise financial policies, and 
• Review and approve the proposed programme budget.

74th World Health Assembly

1. The 74th session of the World Health Assembly was organized between May 24th to June 1st 2021. In the light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the assembly was held virtually.
2. The Theme of 74th World Health Assembly – WHA was ‘ending this pandemic, preventing the next, building together a healthier, safer and fairer world’.
3. As the Chairman of WHO Executive Board, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India addressed the assembly.
   • India was elected to the World Health Organisation Executive Board in May 2020 to hold the Chairmanship of the Executive Board for one year.
   • He summarized the 147th and 148th sessions of the Executive Board and its Special Session on COVID-19 response that was held on October 5th and 6th 2020.
   • He mentioned the following points from the above-mentioned sessions -Universal Health Coverage, efforts to ensure fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility, addressing diabetes as a public health problem, global action plan for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, to draft a global strategy to tackle oral diseases, COVID-19 impact on global health, the public health implications of implementation of the Nagoya Protocol, etc.
4. A few recommendations by the Board to 74th World Health Assembly –
   • To consider a report on mental health preparedness and response for the Covid-19 pandemic.
   • To undertake a broad consultative process to develop global health sector strategies on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, for the period 2022 to 2030.
   • On general health and well-being, the adoption of a resolution on strengthening efforts to address the social, economic and environmental determinants of health.
   • The Health Assembly should adopt the global patient safety action plan for the period 2021 to 2030.
5. The 74th World Health Assembly elected Decheng Wangmo, Bhutan’s Minister of Health as the President of the World Health Assembly.
6. Apart from this, 5 Vice presidents were also elected that included Benin, Guatemala, Qatar, Mongolia and Estonia.

Check the links provided below to find out more on the relevant topics for exam preparation –

Additionally, candidates can check out the Differences Between Pandemic and Endemic on the linked page.

You can visit the UPSC Syllabus page to better familiarise yourself with the exam pattern. For more UPSC related preparation materials and articles, visit the links given in the table below: