World Health Assembly to focus on discussion of Ebola outbreaks

The 68th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday kicked off here, over 3,000 delegates from 194 member states would focus on the discussion of Ebola outbreaks and the post-2015 health agenda.

As the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization, this year's WHA takes place in Geneva from May 18 to 26.

Indian Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda was elected as president to chair the 68th WHA.

Li Bin, head of China National Health and Family Planning Commission and of the Chinese delegation, was positioned to one of the five vice-presidents.

Due to the severity and scale of the Ebola outbreak has been unprecedented and the need for building and strengthening resilient health systems, WHA will serve as an opportunity to assess the current outbreak situation, review and assess the response efforts.

As a special Session of the Executive Board on Ebola held in January endorsed a resolution to bolster WHO's capacity to detect and respond to disease outbreaks and other health emergencies, WHA will review proposals for strengthening WHO's emergency response capacities under the International Health Regulations, planning for a global health emergency workforce and establishing a contingency fund.

WHA is set to approve the draft global action plan on antimicrobial resistance, air pollution strategy and other core health-related resolutions. The WHO decision makers will also approve the biennial work program budget for 2016 and 2017.

WHA is held annually in Geneva. Endit