WHO updates Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly

The World Health Organization said on May 22 that delegates at the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in Geneva agreed to create a joint, member-state-led process to support reforms of the global health architecture. WHO said the process will be hosted by the agency and developed with global health partners during the assembly’s final stretch on May 22. The move came as the annual meeting also unfolded against an active Ebola emergency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, which WHO has been briefing alongside the assembly. Foreign Policy reported the same day that disputes over sovereignty, financing and access were complicating broader pandemic-governance talks. ### What did WHO say delegates actually decided on May 22? WHO said the assembly decided to establish a joint process led by member states, hosted by WHO and involving global health partners, to support reforms of the global health architecture. The agency said the process is meant to develop options and recommendations that meet “the specific and collective needs of countries and communities” and to maximize “access, impact and equity.” (who.int) The May 22 daily update said member states backed WHO’s “central convening and normative role” while also saying the work should involve global health initiatives, U.N. partners, civil society and youth. WHO said delegates asked Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to submit a final report with options and recommendations to next year’s World Health Assembly. (who.int) ### Why are delegates talking about “global health architecture” now? WHO said the proposal adopted on May 22 recognized gains from the existing system in disease control, norms and collective action, but said the architecture “had not kept pace with the new and evolving global environment.” The daily update listed expanded national health sovereignty, changing disease burdens, rapid advances in science, artificial intelligence and digital technologies, and tighter health financing among the pressures behind the review. (who.int) WHO also said member states cited “power imbalances, fragmentation and duplication” as the number of health actors has grown, affecting country ownership and leadership. Foreign Policy, in an article published May 22, said geopolitical dysfunction was undercutting efforts to build equitable pandemic agreements, pointing to debates over national positions and global access. (who.int) ### How does Ebola fit into the same week’s agenda? Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on May 22 that WHO had raised its Ebola risk assessment for the Democratic Republic of the Congo to “very high” at the national level, while keeping the regional risk at high and the global risk at low. He said 82 cases and seven deaths had been confirmed in DRC, while the wider suspected toll was “almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths.” (who.int) WHO said the outbreak in DRC and Uganda involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment. The agency said it had deployed 22 international staff to the field and released $3.9 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies, while U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher allocated $60 million to the response, according to Tedros. (who.int) ### What had WHO already declared before the May 22 update? WHO said on May 16 that Ebola caused by Bundibugyo virus in DRC and Uganda constituted a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations. The agency said DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on May 15, and Uganda confirmed an imported case the same day after a Congolese man died in Kampala. (who.int) WHO said it was first alerted on May 5 to a high-mortality outbreak of unknown illness in Mongbwalu Health Zone in Ituri Province, including deaths among health workers. Laboratory analysis in Kinshasa confirmed Bundibugyo virus disease in eight samples on May 15, WHO said. ### Where can readers follow what happens next at the assembly? (who.int) WHO’s assembly page says the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly is being held in Geneva from May 18 through May 23, 2026, with proceedings webcast live and recordings posted on the site. WHO’s daily-updates page lists separate summaries for each day of the meeting, including the May 22 note that set out the reform process. (who.int) WHO said Tedros is due to report back to next year’s World Health Assembly with final options and recommendations on reform of the global health architecture. The agency also said a multi-agency Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for the Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda will be published “in the coming days.” (who.int 1) (who.int 2)