WHF recently attended the 142nd session of the Executive Board Meeting in Geneva. Below you will find a brief overview of some of the key outcomes of the meeting.
Agenda Item 3.1: Draft Thirteenth General Programme of Work
WHO Member States adopted a Resolution which recommended the Draft Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13) for adoption at the 71st World Health Assembly in May 2018. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked those who contributed to putting together the GPW, saying: ‘this is a document that belongs to all of us’.
Agenda Item 3.8: Preparation for the Third UN High-level Meeting on NCDs in 2018
The Executive Board noted the WHO’s report on progress towards achieving targets on the prevention and control of NCDs agreed at the previous High-level Meeting in 2014. Many countries suggested that this report – along with the Montevideo Roadmap agreed in in Uruguay in October 2017 – be used as a base for UN and country discussions for the Third High-level Meeting in 2018.
Assistant Director-General for NCDs, Dr Svetlana Akselrod, encouraged governments to align plans for the meeting with that of the First High-level Meeting on Tuberculosis – also scheduled for 2018.
Agenda Item 4.2: Physical activity for health
The EB adopted a Resolution recommending that countries endorse a new Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) for the years 2018-2030. WHO noted that they would update the GAPPA in advance of the World Health Assembly following several recommendations from countries during EB discussions.
Agenda Item 5.8: Appointment of the Regional Director for the Americas
One key update for WHF Members in the PAHO Region is that Dr Carissa Etienne’s reappointment as Regional Director for the Americas has been confirmed. Dr Etienne, who will serve for a second term of five years beginning from 1st February 2018, made a powerful intervention to highlight inaction on NCDs, saying: ‘I want to ring the alarm bell – this is an unprecedented catastrophe. The equivalent of 99,000 jumbo jets loads of people die every year from NCDs. If that happened all at once, alarm bells and outrage would reverberate around the world. Why is that not happening?”
Click on the tabs below for a detailed summary of these and other key agenda items.
