Korede Abdullah
The World Health Assembly (WHA), the seventy-seventh of its kind and decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) currently going on in Geneva, Switzerland, has re-affirmed its determination to formulate policies and make appropriate strategies for tackling global health challenges — including malaria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) — through international collaboration, vaccine development, and equitable distribution of treatments and preventive measures.
This year’s Assembly which began on 27 June will come to an end on 1 June is scheduled to see the adoption of a new global health strategy for 2025−2028, developed in partnership with 194 member states and partners.
With only six years remaining to achieve the ambitions set out in the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030, the strategy will set a clear roadmap for how to bring members together around these common goals and get back on track to meet them.
Other crucial decisions which are expected to be taken are based on health priorities including climate and health, access to transformative tools, and communicable diseases including malaria which is still ravaging many parts of Africa despite efforts being made by various nation-states
Malaria is endemic in many countries with limited resources, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America. The impact of this disease on endemic countries affects both economic growth and human development. Climate change and extreme weather events are exacerbating the risk of malaria outbreaks.
About two weeks ago, the Nigeria’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Pate, who is also attending the Geneva assembly, raised the concern about the ravages of scourge of malaria in Nigeria during a Ministerial round table. He said that in order to achieve the zero-malaria target in Nigeria, the federal government would have to emphasise the need to move from idealism to pragmatism.
The WHA77 will have a strategic roundtable discussion on charting a new path forward for global action against Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through a collaborative One Health approach across human, animal and environmental health sectors. According to the World Health Organization, WHO, AMR is one of the top global public health and development threats. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths
The high-powered discussion by WHA77 aims to build momentum towards unified priorities, policies and governance of antimicrobial use to address the severe threats AMR poses to human health, economies, food systems and the environment worldwide.
