Pandemics To Pollution: WHO Assembly Delivers Landmark Health Decisions
In addition, the Assembly endorsed a wide range of measures to promote health equity, reduce air pollution, and strengthen protections for vulnerable populations.
' The words 'historic' and 'landmark' are overused, but they are perfectly apt to describe this year's World Health Assembly,' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the Assembly's closing, ending nine days of intense debate and decisions.
The centrepiece of the Assembly's outcomes was the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted on 20 May after more than three years of negotiations.
The agreement, seen as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve global preparedness and response to future pandemics, aims to strengthen international coordination, enhance equity in access to medical tools and ensure that no country is left behind in future health crises.
A key next step will be consultations on access to pathogen and benefit-sharing, which seeks to guarantee equitable sharing of medical countermeasures derived from pathogens.
Boost for WHO budget
Another major outcome was the approval of a 20 per cent increase in assessed contributions – the core, mandatory funding from Member States that underpins WHO's work.
By 2030-2031, these contributions will cover 50 per cent of the agency's core budget, a crucial step toward financial sustainability.
Health leaders also pledged at least $210 million to WHO's ongoing Investment Round, adding to the $1.7 billion already raised and expanding the agency's donor base.
A healthier world
The Assembly also delivered a sweeping slate of resolutions addressing a wide range of health challenges.
For the first time, nations adopted global resolutions on lung and kidney health, aligning with the growing recognition of noncommunicable diseases as a global priority.
Countries also set an ambitious new target to halve the health impacts of air pollution by 2040 and in an innovative move, adopted a resolution on social connection, acknowledging mounting evidence linking social isolation to poor health outcomes.
They also endorsed measures to combat the digital marketing of formula milk and baby foods, and addressed rare diseases, a lead-free future and the eradication of Guinea worm disease.
History is made
In conclusion, Director-General Tedros urged countries to continue the momentum beyond the Assembly, highlighting the spirit of cooperation and commitment to health for all.
' You, the nations of the world, made history,' he said.
'Yes, there is conflict in our world, but you have shown that there is also cooperation. Yes, there is inequity, but you have shown a commitment to equity. Yes, there is disease, but you have shown a commitment to health – health for all.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
Food airdropped into Gaza as Israel says opening aid routes
Two Jordanian and one Emirati plane on dropped 25 tonnes of humanitarian aid over the Gaza Strip, Jordanian state television reported on 27 July. Israel also parachuted food aid, and trucks of flour were seen arriving in northern Gaza through a crossing from Israel, according to AFP journalists. Photo: AFP / Bashar Taleb Jordanian and Emirati planes dropped food into Gaza as Israel began a limited "tactical pause" in some military operations to allow the UN and aid agencies to tackle a deepening hunger crisis. The Palestinian territory is gripped by dire humanitarian conditions created by 21 months of war and made worse by Israel's total blockade of aid from March to May. Since the easing of the blockade, the levels of aid reaching Gaza have been far below what aid groups say is needed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his government was not to blame for the dire situation and lashed out at the UN. The Israeli military dismissed allegations that it had been using starvation as a weapon, saying it had coordinated with the UN and international agencies to "increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip". A Palestinian boy reacts as he carries a bag of flour in the al-Mawasi camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, that was picked up from the Rafah corridor on 27 July 2025. Photo: AFP The World Health Organisation warned on Sunday that malnutrition was reaching "alarming levels" in Gaza. It said that of the 74 recorded malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 had occurred in July -- including 24 children aged under five, one child older than five, and 38 adults. "Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting," the UN health agency said. "The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health and humanitarian aid has cost many lives." The UN's World Food Programme said a third of the population of Gaza had not eaten for days, and 470,000 were "enduring famine-like conditions". UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed Israel's tactical pauses, saying his teams "will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window". People walk with sacks of flour delivered after trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered northern Gaza on 27 July, 2025 coming from the Zikim border crossing. Photo: AFP / Bashar Taleb The Israeli decision came as international pressure mounted on Netanyahu to prevent mass starvation in the territory. Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz joined the chorus of concern on Sunday, urging the Israeli premier "to provide the starving civilian population in Gaza with urgently needed humanitarian aid now". Accusing the UN of fabricating "pretexts and lies about Israel" blocking aid, Netanyahu said in remarks at an airbase that "there are secure routes" for aid. "There have always been, but today it's official. There will be no more excuses," he added. The situation inside the territory deteriorated sharply after Israel imposed its total blockade on aid in March. It later eased the blockade, but sidelined the UN and major aid agencies and instead relied on a newly created, US-backed private foundation. Aid groups refused to work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, accusing it of furthering Israel's military goals, while hundreds of people have been killed attempting to reach its sites. The Jordanian military said its planes, working with the United Arab Emirates, had delivered 25 tonnes of aid in three parachute drops over Gaza on Sunday. The Israeli military also said it had conducted a drop, parachuting seven pallets of aid into the territory. Truckloads of flour were also seen arriving in northern Gaza through the Zikim area crossing from Israel, according to AFP journalists. AFP correspondents also saw trucks crossing from Egypt, heading for Israeli inspection before entering Gaza. The charity Oxfam's regional policy chief Bushra Khalidi called Israel's latest moves a "welcome first step" but warned they were insufficient. "Starvation won't be solved by a few trucks or airdrops," she said. "What's needed is a real humanitarian response: ceasefire, full access, all crossings open and a steady, large-scale flow of aid into Gaza. "We need a permanent ceasefire, a complete lifting of the siege." In general, humanitarian officials are deeply sceptical that airdrops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than two million inhabitants. Gazans watch as a military plane flies over during an aid drop in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP / Bashar Taleb In Gaza City's Tel el-Hawa district, 30-year-old Suad Ishtaywi said her "life's wish" was simply to feed her children. She spoke of her husband returning empty-handed from each day from aid points. There were chaotic scenes at the site where Israel conducted its first food drop, witnesses told AFP. Samih Humeid, a 23-year-old from the Al-Karama neighbourhood of Gaza City, said dozens of people had gathered to rush towards the parachuted supplies. "It felt like a war, everyone trying to grab whatever they could. Hunger is merciless. The quantities were extremely limited, not enough even for a few people, because hunger is everywhere. I only managed to get three cans of fava beans," he said. The Israeli army's daily pause from 10am to 8pm will be limited to areas where its troops are not currently operating -- Al-Mawasi in the south, Deir el-Balah in the centre and Gaza City in the north. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, citing "reasonable grounds" to suspect war crimes including starvation - charges Israel vehemently denies. On Sunday, according to the Gaza civil defence agency, Israeli army fire killed 27 Palestinians, 12 of them near aid distribution areas. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. - AFP
RNZ News
26-07-2025
- RNZ News
WHO's Covid-19 special envoy David Nabarro dies at 75
By Harshita Meenaktshi , Reuters Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP David Nabarro, the World Health Organization's special envoy for Covid-19 since the early stages of the outbreak in 2020, has died at the age of 75, the WHO said on Saturday. "David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said of the Briton in a post on X. Deeply shocked and saddened by the passing of our dear friend, colleague and @WHO Envoy David Nabarro. David was a great champion of global health and health equity, and a wise, generous mentor to countless individuals. His work touched and impacted so many lives across the… Nabarro was also co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College in London. At the height of the pandemic in 2021 Nabarro called for more global cooperation and aid to poorer countries during a health crisis he said was "nothing like anything else we've ever seen in my professional life". In 2017, he was a candidate for WHO director-general, finishing second to Tedros in the election. - Reuters
Scoop
24-07-2025
- Scoop
‘Famine Silently Begins To Unfold' In Gaza, UNRWA Chief Says
24 July 2025 Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said that is what one of its workers told him on Thursday morning. This sobering comment comes amidst increasingly severe malnutrition for children and adults throughout the Gaza Strip. 'When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold,' Mr. Lazzarini said in a tweet. Bombs are not the only thing that kills Gaza has faced relentless bombardment for almost three years, but Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a briefing on Wednesday that it is not just the bombs which are killing Palestinians. Starvation is 'another killer'. Reportedly at least 100 people have died from hunger, and WHO has documented at least 21 cases of children under the age of five dying from malnutrition. Additionally, Mr. Lazzarini said one in five children in Gaza City is malnourished, a number increasing every day that unhindered humanitarian aid is denied. He said these children urgently need treatment, but supplies remain low. Between early March and mid-May – 80 consecutive days – no aid was allowed into the Gaza Strip, pushing the population to the brink of famine. While minimal aid has since entered, Tedros emphasised that it is not enough. 'Food deliveries have resumed intermittently, but remain far below what is needed for the survival of the population,' he said. Safe havens are no longer safe Tedros reported that between 27 May and 21 July, over 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed while trying to access food. Many of these have died in or around sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American-run and Israeli-backed aid distribution organization which the UN has repeatedly said violates well-established principles of international humanitarian law. 'Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger. Food distribution sites have become places of violence,' Tedros said. In addition to risking their lives when seeking out desperately needed humanitarian assistance, hospitals – which have been systematically targeted, according to UNFPA – are no longer safe havens. 'Hospitals, which are supposed to be safe havens, have regularly been attacked, and many are no longer functioning,' Tedros said. He recalled that on Monday, a WHO staff residence, a humanitarian site, was attacked, with male personnel being stripped and interrogated, women and children forced to flee on foot in the midst of violence and one WHO staff member detained. 'Despite this, WHO and other UN agencies are staying in Gaza. Our commitment is firm. UN agencies must be protected while operating in conflict zones,' Tedros said. Frontline workers face hunger In addition to the Palestinians in Gaza who are 'emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying', aid workers are also feeling the effects of the sustained lack of supplies. Most UNRWA workers are surviving on a meagre bowl of lentils each day, Mr. Lazzarini said, leading many of them to faint from hunger at work. 'When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,' he said. Some parents are too hungry to care for their children, and even those who do reach clinics for treatment are often too tired to follow the advice provided. Mr. Lazzarini noted that UNRWA alone has 6,000 trucks of desperately needed food and medical supplies in Jordan and Egypt. He called for this and other aid to be immediately let through. 'Families are no longer coping. They are breaking down, unable to survive. Their existence is threatened,' he said. 'Allow humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza.'
