WHO chief warns Ebola, hantavirus risk

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus closed the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 23 with a warning that recent Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks showed the world remained exposed to fast-moving infectious disease. WHO’s director-general used the assembly’s final day to call for urgent action on Ebola and for broader pandemic preparedness, while member states wrapped up a week of votes on health emergencies, climate and other policy items. WHO said the meeting, held from May 18 to May 23, adopted more than 20 decisions and 13 resolutions. ### What exactly did Tedros warn about at the close of the meeting? Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on May 23 that Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks demonstrated that “the world is still vulnerable to rapidly spreading infectious diseases,” according to UN News’ account of his closing remarks. He paired that warning with an appeal for urgent Ebola action and stronger pandemic preparedness. UN News reported that Tedros’ comments came at the end of the annual gathering of WHO member states in Geneva. (who.int) WHO’s own media resources page lists the 79th World Health Assembly as running from May 18 through May 23. ### What did the assembly actually pass before it adjourned? WHO said in its May 23 daily update that member states adopted more than 20 decisions and 13 resolutions during the week. The organization listed health emergencies, climate-related items and a wide set of technical health issues among the matters taken up before the close. (news.un.org) The WHO update said the adopted measures covered issues including emergency care, antimicrobial resistance, diagnostic imaging, tuberculosis, haemophilia, precision medicine and radiation. (news.un.org) A separate WHO event page tied the assembly to climate and health discussions taking place during the same week in Geneva. ### Where did pathogen-sharing negotiations stand when the meeting ended? (who.int) WHO’s governing-body documentation for the 79th assembly included an agenda item on the open-ended intergovernmental working group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement. The assembly closed without resolving all questions around pathogen-sharing, according to the user-provided context and the broader package of pandemic-preparedness talks referenced in WHO and UN materials. (who.int) UN News framed Tedros’ closing appeal for preparedness against that unfinished negotiating backdrop. His warning on current outbreaks came as member states were still working through the harder institutional questions tied to future pandemic response. ### What happened on the Palestinian health resolutions? The World Health Assembly adopted two resolutions on the health situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, according to IMEMC’s May 23 report. (apps.who.int) IMEMC said the texts also addressed the occupied Syrian Golan. WHO’s official assembly documentation shows agenda items on “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem” and a separate item covering the occupied Syrian Golan. (news.un.org) Those listings confirm the issues were formally before member states during the session. ### Why were Ebola and hantavirus already hanging over this week’s meeting? UN News reported on May 18, the opening day of the assembly, that the meeting began under the shadow of Ebola outbreaks in Central Africa and a hantavirus-related cruise ship evacuation. (imemc.org) That reporting showed the disease threats were part of the assembly’s context from the start, not only in Tedros’ closing remarks. The WHO media resources page continues to host the assembly’s daily updates, speeches and related documents. (apps.who.int) The governing-body portal also carries the formal agenda and texts tied to the pandemic agreement, health emergencies and the occupied Palestinian territory items considered during the May 18-23 session. (who.int) (news.un.org)