Off the wire
• Burundian president replaces 3 ministers  • Campaign group calls for mediation efforts in Africa  • Latvia's presidential election to take place on June 3  • Portugal opens inquiry after Benfica celebrations turn ugly  • U.S. stocks mildly higher at midday despite Greece concerns  • Stronger U.S. dollar weighs on LME base metals on Monday  • Interview: Nepal needs more aid from China in reconstruction: politician  • Lithuania, China's Shandong province to enhance cooperation: officials  • Shift workers more likely to develop obesity, diabetes: study  • Naturalizations in Austria increase in Q1  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: WHO sets new priorities amid changing global environment

Xinhua, May 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Marking the start of 2015 World Health Assembly on Monday, World Health Organisation (WHO) head Margaret Chan highlighted the transitional nature of today's world in light of existing and evolving health challenges.

This year's assembly, the 68th of its kind since its inception in 1948, unites 194 delegations from WHO member states and addresses key problems faced by the global health community, such as the Ebola crisis that hit West Africa as early as December 2013.

"The Ebola outbreak shook the Organization to its core," she said, adding that she did "not ever again want to see WHO faced with a situation it is not prepared, staffed, funded or administratively set up to manage."

Ebola, which is but one of many untreatable global diseases, has catalysed pivotal reforms as the demands on the organisation reached unprecedented levels during the epidemic.

Chan has laid out a five-point plan to be completed by the end of 2015 which acknowledges the complex nature of global health while streamlining emergency relief efforts at all levels.

Integral to her approach is the creation of a unified WHO emergency program, the establishment of program-performance metrics, the creation of a global health emergency force, and the development of new business procedures to enable efficient global epidemics responses.

She also announced the creation of a 100-million-U.S.-dollar contingency fund, so that the necessary resources are at hand to immediately meet the financial requirements of initial responses.

According to Chan, "this is a unique time in history where economic progress is actually increasing threats to health instead of reducing them," and this amid an environment where the very foundations of public health are being altered.

Despite that, Chan highlighted the fact that "if the world really wants to improve health, it can do so," while reiterating the centrality of health for long-term development.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which initially hailed "a more peaceful, prosperous and just world" by 2015 will see the Sustainable Development Goals converge with the post-2015 development agenda later this year.

Past successes in programs linked to AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, polio and tropical diseases prove that "while increased threats to health have multiplied, so has the world's response capacities."

Despite these successes, future challenges such as antibiotic resistance and non-communicable diseases which have overtaken infectious diseases as the main driver of global mortality remain to be addressed, according to Chan.

She said that "above all our work is driven by a fierce commitment to equity, social justice, and the right to health." Endit