WHO warns outbreak preparedness lacking

The World Health Assembly ended on May 23 in Geneva with WHO member states adopting resolutions on emergency preparedness, emergency and critical care, and health-system protection, while also approving two separate measures on health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory. WHO said the 79th assembly adopted more than 20 decisions and 13 resolutions during the week-long meeting. At the close, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus used the final session to warn that recent outbreaks had exposed how incomplete global preparedness remains. ### Which decisions did governments actually take in Geneva? WHO said the assembly, held from May 18 to May 23, approved measures spanning emergency care, tuberculosis, diagnostic imaging, pharmacovigilance, transplantation, liver disease and other health priorities. The organization’s May 23 daily update also said governments addressed political and administrative issues, including a member state-led, WHO-hosted joint process to reform parts of the global health architecture. (who.int) The occupied Palestinian territory was also on the agenda. WHO’s assembly documentation lists separate items on health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and on the occupied Palestinian territory more broadly. The user-provided WHO context says two separate resolutions on the issue were adopted at the close of the meeting. ### Why did Tedros end the meeting with an outbreak warning? Tedros said on May 23 that Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks showed the world was still vulnerable to rapidly spreading infectious diseases. (who.int) UN News reported that he called for urgent action on outbreak response and broader pandemic preparedness as Uganda confirmed three new cases of Bundibugyo-strain Ebola, including a health worker, a driver and a Congolese national who had traveled from Ituri province in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo for care. (apps.who.int) WHO said it was working with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and other partners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to contain the Ebola outbreak. UN News reported that WHO had raised the national risk assessment for the Democratic Republic of the Congo to “very high,” while keeping the global risk assessment low. Tedros also tied preparedness to financing. In his closing remarks, cited by WHO and UN News, he said agreements reached by member states would matter only if they changed conditions in clinics, communities and households, and he appealed for continued increases in assessed contributions so WHO could remain capable of responding to future emergencies. (news.un.org) ### Where does polio fit into a meeting dominated by outbreaks? (news.un.org) The Global Polio Eradication Initiative said on May 22 that more than 350 million children were immunized multiple times in 2025. That included more than 55 million children in Pakistan and Afghanistan and more than 600,000 in the Gaza Strip, according to GPEI’s assembly briefing. GPEI said delegates repeatedly returned to what it called the “final gaps” in vaccination coverage, access and financing. (who.int) Dr. Razia Pendse, chef de cabinet in the WHO director-general’s office, said during assembly discussions that the remaining gaps were not scientific or technical but lay in political will, access and funding. Polio also remained formally high on the emergency agenda. (polioeradication.org) GPEI said poliovirus is still one of only two Public Health Emergencies of International Concern, alongside the Ebola outbreak discussed at the assembly. ### What did officials say needs to happen next? Marie Roseline Belizaire, WHO Africa’s director of emergency preparedness and response, told a two-day ministerial meeting in Kampala that stronger cross-border coordination was needed to contain the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak. (polioeradication.org) UN News said she warned that delays in response can carry serious consequences and said stronger surveillance and preparedness systems were critical because “time saves lives” during outbreaks. GPEI said Monaco used the assembly to announce support for polio eradication through 2027 to 2029, extending backing that the initiative said has topped $2.5 million over more than 20 years. The initiative also said member states were presented with the Sustaining a Polio-Free World strategy, which will shape the next phase of eradication work after the Geneva meeting. (polioeradication.org) (news.un.org)