24 May 2018: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank jointly launched an international mechanism to improve global preparedness for health emergencies, as a step toward ending epidemics of communicable diseases (SDG target 3.3) and strengthening the capacity of all countries for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks (SDG target 3.d). The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) will monitor the work of governments, the private sector and civil society organizations, help raise financing, and ensure that the necessary research and development is conducted.

The launch took place during the 71st session of the World Health Assembly, on 24 May 2018, in Geneva, Switzerland. At the launch event, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus drew attention to the current repeat outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as “a stark reminder that outbreaks can happen anywhere, at any time.”

Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway, and Elhadj As Sy, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), are Co-Chairing the Board, which will have its secretariat at WHO headquarters in Geneva. The Board’s creation fulfills a recommendation made in the 2017 report of the UN Secretary-General’s Global Health Crises Task Force, which was created in 2016 in response to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. The Board will report annually on the state of global preparedness for health emergencies.

The 71st World Health Assembly also saw the launch of a global coalition on health, environment and climate change, which aims to reduce deaths caused by environmental risks, especially air pollution. [WHO press release] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on WHA71] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on launch of coalition on health, environment and climate change]