By Kemo Cham
The 2016 World Health Assembly (WHA) ended on Wednesday with the passing of three new resolutions on air pollution, epilepsy, and the assembly’s future engagement with non-state actors.
Delegates at the end of the three days global meeting of health experts and government officials adopted a resolution to address the health impacts of air pollution, described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the world’s largest single environmental health risk. They also agreed to strengthen ongoing efforts to provide care for people suffering from epilepsy, and set in motion work on the framework of dealing with non-state actors.
The WHA is the decision-making body of WHO, which is the United Nations agency responsible for coordinating global health responses. The Assembly, which is convened annually in Geneva, Switzerland, determines the policies of the WHO, appoints its Director-General, supervises its financial policies, and reviews and approve its proposed programme budget. It is attended by delegations from all 194 WHO member states. The discussions are usually focused on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board of the WHO, which is its supreme governing body.
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, in her opening statement of the Assembly on Monday celebrated major achievements like the drop in the rates of infant and maternal mortality, and the drop in cases of tuberculosis.
“Commitment to the Millennium Development Goals brought focus, energy, creative innovation, and above all money to bear on some of the biggest health challenges that marred the start of this century,” she said.
“We can celebrate the 19 000 fewer children dying every day, the 44% drop in maternal mortality, and the 85% of tuberculosis cases that are successfully cured.”
Dr Chan singled out Africa for registering 60% decline in malaria mortality, crediting the African Union inspired African Leaders Malaria Alliance initiative for the achievement. She also spoke on improvement in life-saving treatment for HIV. But she sounded warning for recurrent threats, like Ebola, air pollution, drug resistant pathogens, MERS coronavirus, Zika and yellow fever.
“In an interconnected world characterized by profound mobility of people and goods, few threats to health are local anymore,” she said.
“Air pollution is a transboundary hazard that affects the global atmosphere and contributes to climate change.”
“The rapidly evolving outbreak of Zika warns us that an old disease that slumbered for 6 decades in Africa and Asia can suddenly wake up on a new continent to cause a global health emergency.”
This is said to be the first time the Assembly has debated on air pollution as a topic. And WHO said the resolution highlights the key role national health authorities needed to play in raising awareness about the potential to save lives and reduce health costs, if air pollution is addressed effectively.
According to WHO figures, every year 4.3 million deaths occur from exposure to indoor air pollution and 3.7 million deaths are attributable to outdoor air pollution.
The WHA resolution stressed the need for strong cooperation between different sectors and integration of health concerns into all national, regional and local air pollution-related policies. It urged member states to develop air quality monitoring systems and health registries to improve surveillance for all illnesses related to air pollution; promote clean cooking, heating and lighting technologies and fuels; and strengthen international transfer of expertise, technologies and scientific data in the field of air pollution.
According to the resolution, the WHO Secretariat should work towards strengthening its technical capacities to support member states in taking action on air pollution. This includes further building capacity to: implement the "WHO air quality guidelines" and "WHO indoor air quality guidelines; conduct cost-benefit assessment of mitigation measures; and advance research into air pollution’s health effects and effectiveness.
The UN health agency was expected, at the 2016 Assembly, to propose a road map for an enhanced global response by the health sector with a view to reducing the adverse health effects of air pollution.
On epilepsy, the medical condition associated with brain disorder, delegates endorsed a resolution urging member states to strengthen their ongoing efforts in providing care for people with epilepsy.
Epilepsy is neurological disorder which leads to recurrent seizures. In Sierra Leone there are thought to be between 60, 000 and 80, 000 sufferers, according to the Epilepsy Association.
Although affordable treatment for epilepsy exists, up to 90% of people with the condition may not be properly diagnosed or treated in resource-poor settings like Sierra Leone. This WHA resolution therefore highlights the need for governments to formulate, strengthen and implement national policies and legislation to promote and protect the rights of people with epilepsy, said WHO in a statement. It added that it also stresses the need to reinforce health information and surveillance systems to get a clearer picture of the burden of disease and to measure progress in improving access to care.
The resolution calls for training of non-specialist health-care providers as a key measure to reducing the epilepsy treatment gap. In low- and middle-income settings, strategies to improve access and affordability of antiepileptic medicines should be a priority, it said, encouraging countries to undertake public awareness activities to reduce misconceptions about epilepsy and encourage more people to seek treatment. It also calls for the building of the research capacity of low- and middle-income countries through the expansion of academic collaboration and establishment of centres of excellence.
The relationship between WHO and its partner organizations – the non-state actors (nongovernmental organizations, private sector entities, philanthropic foundations and academic institutions), was also a major point of discussion at the Assembly. A draft framework of engagement reached by the delegates was due to be finalized for adoption.
The WHO Secretariat was tasked to develop a register of non-State actors for next year's Health Assembly.
(C) Politico 26/05/16