World Health Assembly adopts health resolutions as WHO warns of major pandemic‑preparedness gaps

The Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly ended in Geneva on May 23 after WHO member states adopted more than 20 decisions and 13 resolutions covering issues from tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance to emergency care and precision medicine. The closing package also included two resolutions on the health situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, according to the WHO’s final daily update. At the same closing session, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said recent Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks had exposed how vulnerable countries remain to fast-moving disease threats. ### What did governments actually approve before the assembly closed? WHO said the week-long assembly adopted resolutions on stroke, liver disease, tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, diagnostic imaging, emergency care, haemophilia, precision medicine and radiation. The organization said member states also handled political and administrative business, including agreement to pursue reform of global health architecture through a member state-led, WHO-hosted joint process. (who.int) The occupied Palestinian territory was part of the final-day agenda as well. WHO’s May 23 update said delegates adopted two resolutions on that file before the assembly adjourned in Geneva. ### Why was Tedros still warning about pandemic risk at a closing session? Tedros used the close of the assembly on Saturday, May 23, to link the meeting’s formal decisions to active outbreaks. (who.int) UN News reported that he cited recent Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks as evidence that the world is still vulnerable to rapidly spreading infectious diseases. Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries were already dealing with the Ebola response during the assembly week. (who.int) In remarks published by WHO on May 19, Tedros said he had declared a public health emergency of international concern over the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. (news.un.org) ### What is still unfinished in the pandemic agreement? WHO member states are still negotiating the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing, or PABS, annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement. WHO said on March 28 that governments agreed to extend those negotiations and resume discussions in late April ahead of planned consideration at the World Health Assembly in May. (who.int) That annex covers how pathogens with pandemic potential, and the benefits derived from sharing them, would be handled under the agreement. WHO described the PABS system as a core component of the pandemic agreement, and outside coverage has noted that the broader pact remains incomplete until that annex is settled. (who.int) ### Why does the pathogen-sharing annex matter so much? The PABS annex sits at the center of one of the hardest parts of pandemic diplomacy: how quickly countries share samples and sequence data, and what they receive in return. WHO said the system is meant to strengthen cooperation and equity in future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. (who.int) The dispute is not about whether the assembly passed resolutions this week; it is about whether governments have finished the operational rules needed for the pandemic agreement to work in practice. WHO’s own account of the assembly showed broad agreement on many health topics, while its March update on PABS showed that the pathogen-sharing piece required more time. (who.int) ### Where does this leave WHO after the Geneva meeting? The assembly closed with a large set of adopted measures, but WHO’s public messaging at the end of the week remained focused on preparedness gaps. Tedros’ warning on Ebola and hantavirus, alongside the unresolved PABS talks, showed that the organization is still trying to move from political agreement to negotiated implementation. That reading is based on WHO’s March and May updates and Tedros’ closing remarks as reported by UN News. (who.int) The next formal step is in the continuing member-state negotiations over the PABS annex. WHO said in March that the annex was scheduled for consideration by the World Health Assembly in May, and the assembly’s broader documentation remains available through WHO’s Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly pages. (who.int 1) (who.int 2)