WHO meets amid Ebola, hantavirus

The World Health Assembly opened in Geneva on Monday with WHO juggling two active cross-border health emergencies, a budget squeeze and a fight over the future shape of global health cooperation. The 79th annual meeting began one day after WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared a public health emergency of international concern over an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has spread into Uganda. At the same time, WHO is coordinating the response to a hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship *MV Hondius*, which arrived in the Netherlands on Monday after an evacuation and repatriation operation in Tenerife. The meeting is also unfolding after the United States and Argentina notified the United Nations of plans to leave WHO processes, raising legal and political questions for member states. ### Why did this year’s assembly open under an outbreak cloud? Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus used the opening session on May 18 to link the week’s agenda directly to the emergencies now unfolding in Africa and Europe-linked travel routes. He told delegates that conflicts, economic crises, climate change and aid cuts had made international cooperation more necessary, not less. UN News reported that the Ebola emergency in Congo and Uganda was declared the day before the assembly opened. (news.un.org) The *MV Hondius* response has become a second test of WHO’s emergency coordination role. UN News said the ship reached the Netherlands on Monday after Spain and WHO led a complex evacuation and repatriation effort in Tenerife, and the remaining crew began a 42-day quarantine while the vessel undergoes cleaning and disinfection. WHO said earlier this month that the wider public-health risk from the hantavirus outbreak was low and “not the start of another COVID pandemic.” (news.un.org) ### How much money pressure is WHO under? WHO budget documents cited by UN News showed nearly $360 million in unpaid assessed contributions from current and previous financial periods at the end of 2025. UN News said steep donor funding reductions over the past year forced the agency to restructure programs and reduce staffing. Tedros told delegates the restructuring process had been completed and that WHO had reached “a position of stability.” (news.un.org) Swissinfo reported on Tuesday that the next WHO leader will inherit those budget pressures and will have to redefine the agency’s role before a leadership contest. The outlet described the organization as being at a “strategic crossroads,” with member states asking WHO to respond to widening risks while resources tighten. That framing reflects Swissinfo’s reporting; it is not WHO’s formal characterization. (news.un.org) ### What is happening with the United States and Argentina? WHO said on Jan. 24 that it regretted the U.S. notification of withdrawal and that the issue would be considered by the Executive Board and then by the World Health Assembly in May 2026. In that statement, WHO said the U.S. decision “makes both the United States and the world less safe.” (swissinfo.ch) A WHO Executive Board document dated Jan. 20 said Argentina notified the U.N. secretary-general of its intention to withdraw, with a stated effective date of March 17, 2026, while the United States gave a stated effective date of Jan. 22, 2026. The same document said the WHO constitution does not contain a withdrawal provision and that the World Health Assembly is the competent body to consider the matter. (who.int) ### Isn’t the pandemic treaty already adopted? WHO adopted its Pandemic Agreement at the World Health Assembly on May 20, 2025, after more than three years of negotiations launched in response to COVID-19. The agreement covers surveillance, health systems, workforce, research coordination, supply chains and financing, according to WHO’s overview page. The next phase is narrower but still politically important. (apps.who.int) WHO says an Intergovernmental Working Group must now negotiate the details of the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system, which will become an annex to the agreement. Only after that annex is adopted will the full agreement open for signature and ratification, and it will enter into force 30 days after 60 countries ratify it. (who.int) ### What are delegates expected to do this week? The 79th World Health Assembly is scheduled to handle pandemic preparedness, health financing and cross-border health governance during the Geneva meeting, UN News reported. WHO’s own documents say member states must also address the legal handling of the U.S. and Argentine withdrawal notices and continue work on the annex needed to operationalize the Pandemic Agreement. Those decisions, and any timetable attached to them, are expected to come from the assembly and related WHO process documents in Geneva this week. (who.int) (news.un.org)