A number of important resolutions were adopted at the Health Assembly
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The World Health Assembly recently concluded its work and, as Margaret Chan (CEO) said, the meeting made important decisions regarding air pollution, epilepsy, and mechanisms for interaction with non-governmental organizations.
The resolution on air pollution was adopted to combat the greatest risk to human life and health. According to the WHO, more than 4 million people die from inhalation of polluted air every year, from air pollution - more than 3 million people.
It is worth noting that this issue was discussed at the Health Assembly for the first time.
The resolution specifically noted the role of national health authorities and their duty to inform the public about the need to address air pollution problems. In addition, the resolution noted the need for cooperation between different sectors of health at the national, regional and local levels.
The Assembly called on member states to create special services for monitoring and recording changes in air quality, as well as for keeping a register of the health status of citizens for improving epidemiological surveillance of diseases caused by poor air quality, promoting clean fuels, lighting, facilitating the transfer of knowledge and experience , scientific achievements in the field of air pollution problems.
The WHO Secretariat was invited to provide support to member states on measures to implement the resolution.
Another resolution adopted at the Assembly became recommendations on strengthening of medical care for epileptic patients. Despite the fact that inexpensive therapy is now used to combat the disease, 90% of patients do not receive the correct diagnosis or normal treatment due to insufficient resources.
The resolution stresses the need to strengthen national measures to protect the rights of patients diagnosed with epilepsy.
An important aspect of the resolution was the recommendations to strengthen public awareness and epidemiological surveillance in order to obtain more data about the disease and improve access to necessary medical assistance.
Particular attention should be paid to ways to improve access to drugs used in epilepsy, and also to help in any way to reduce their cost.
Delegates urged all countries to raise the informative level of the population about the disease and encourage more people to seek quality medical care.
The WHO Secretariat should also in the future help WHO Member States to confront the global scale of the disease so that patients diagnosed with epilepsy are not humiliated by the public and could not only receive the necessary medical care but also professional education with the possibility of subsequent employment.
Also at the meeting of the delegates, they decided to cooperate with non-state structures. The delegates decided to complete the mechanisms of interaction with non-state structures for the next assembly and suggested that Margaret Chan in the near future convene an intergovernmental meeting at which to submit the final draft for approval.
The WHO Secretariat should prepare a list of non-state actors for the next meeting.
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