World Health Assembly closes after charting new course for WHO

GENEVA - The 71st World Health Assembly closed on Saturday charting a new course for the World Health Organization in the light of the "triple billion" targets for the next five years, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

In his closing speech on the final day of the assembly, Tedros restated the "triple billion" targets which were approved in the WHO's new five-year strategic plan.

By 2023 the targets aim to achieve: 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage; 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and wellbeing.

Tedros defined three keys behind the triple-billion targets. First is a strong WHO and leadership team that's more efficient and effective in its business practices, then the political commitment from governments, as "with buy-in from the highest levels, anything is possible", and third is an "even deeper and stronger" partnership "in whatever way we can to achieve our goal."

To realize the ambitious "triple billion" targets, the WHA also defined a number of key areas in which actions are to be stepped up, among which is noncommunicable diseases, the number one killer so far worldwide.

WHO members reiterated that the international community has committed, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to reduce by one-third by 2030 premature deaths from NCDs, primarily cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, and to promote mental health and wellbeing. Each year, 15 million people aged 30 to 70 years die from an NCD and the current levels of decline in risk of premature death from NCDs are insufficient to meet the SDG NCD target.

Elsewhere, the WHA urged the WHO director-general, members and partners to continue support preparations for the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on ending tuberculosis in September this year. TB claimed 1.7 million lives in 2016 worldwide, including 400,000 among people with HIV. TB remains the leading infectious disease killer in the world and is one of the top 10 global causes of death.

Delegates also endorsed a resolution urging cholera-affected countries to implement a roadmap that aims to reduce deaths from the disease by 90 percent by 2030. Cholera kills an estimated 95,000 people and affects 2.9 million more every year, disproportionally impacting communities already burdened by conflict, lack of infrastructure, poor health systems and malnutrition. Over 2 billion people worldwide still lack access to safe water and are at potential risk of the disease.

Xinhua

(China Daily 05/28/2018 page12)