World Health Assembly (WHA)
The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board. The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed program budget. The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.
Seventy-Ninth World Health Assembly — Geneva, 18–23 May 2026
- WHO: 78th World Health Assembly, 19-27 May 2025
- PAHO/WHO's coverage of the 77th World Health Assembly, 27 May - 1 June 2024
- PAHO/WHO's coverage of the 76th World Health Assembly, 21-30 May 2023
- WHO: 75th World Health Assembly, 22-28 May 2022
- WHO: Special session of World Health Assembly, 29 November-1 December 2021
- WHO: 74th World Health Assembly, 24-31 May 2021
- WHO: 73rd World Health Assembly, 18-19 May 2020
- PAHO/WHO's coverage of the 72nd World Health Assembly, 20-28 May 2019
- PAHO/WHO's coverage of the 71st World Health Assembly, 21–26 May 2018
- PAHO/WHO's coverage of the 70th World Health Assembly, 22–31 May 2017
- PAHO/WHO's coverage of the 69th World Health Assembly, 23–28 May 2016
- PAHO/WHO's coverage of the 68th World Health Assembly, 18–26 May 2015
PAHO's Coverage of the WHA
Geneva, 19 May 2021 (WHO) - In a year when COVID-19 threatens the health and well-being of everyone on the planet, the seventy-fourth session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) will stress the urgency of ending the current pandemic and preventing the next one by building a healthier, safer and fairer world.
The Health Assembly is WHO’s…
Geneva, 18 May 2020 (PAHO/WHO)—"We have watched how COVID decimated rich and powerful nations with strong curative care systems—killing their people, over running their health care systems, and halting business. And so early on, CARICOM decided that we cannot fight the illness, and that we had to delay the arrival of COVID-19 into the region as…
Washington, D.C., May 18, 2020 (PAHO/WHO)—Every year in May, hundreds of delegates travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to meet and make decisions on global health. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2020 will instead be virtual, with a shortened agenda. It will take place on 18-19 May.
At WHA 2020, Member…
Geneva, 28 May 2019 (PAHO/WHO) - The 72nd World Health Assembly ended today with the adoption of several resolutions on the world’s most relevant public health issues.Over the past 9 days, Member States adopted a new global strategy on health, environment and climate change, and committed?to invest in safe water, sanitation and hygiene services in…
Geneva, May 27, 2019 (PAHO / WHO) - The delegations at the World Health Assembly approved a series of resolutions about patient safety, emergency and care, and water and sanitation. They also agreed on the adoption of the of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11), that will come into…
Geneva, May 24, 2019 (PAHO / WHO) - The delegations approved today a series of technical and administrative resolutions on climate change and health, noncommunicable diseases and the pandemic influenza preparedness framework.
Following is a summary of the main decisions adopted today at the 72nd World Health Assembly.
Health, environment and…
Geneva, 24 May 2019 (PAHO/WHO) – This year, the World Health Organization’s Sasakawa Health Prize recognized the work accomplished in the district of Iguaín in Peru, where the rate of anemia in children under the age of three fell from 65% to 12% over the past three years.
The Sasakawa Health Prize is awarded to one or more persons, institutions…
Geneva, 23 May 2019 (PAHO/WHO) - Member States at the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution today calling for continued high-level commitments to implementand provide multisectoral National Action Plans on Antimicrobial Resistance.The resolution urges Member States to strengthen infection prevention and control…
Geneva, 22 May 2019– Algeria and Argentina have been officially recognized by WHO as malaria-free. The certification is granted when a country proves that it has interrupted indigenous transmission of the disease for at least 3 consecutive years.
Contracted through the bite of an infected mosquito, malaria remains one of the world’s leading…