28 May 2016: The 69th annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the governing body of the World Health Organization’s (WHO), concluded with a number of resolutions and decisions linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including on air pollution, chemicals, the health workforce, childhood obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The WHA also agreed on a framework of engagement with non-state actors and rules for the election of the next WHO Director-General.

The 69th WHA took place from 23-28 May 2016, in Geneva, Switzerland. Governments agreed on steps to lay groundwork for pursuing health-related SDG targets. Such steps include: prioritizing universal health coverage; working with actors outside the health sector to address the social, economic and environmental causes of health problems, including antimicrobial resistance; expanding efforts to address poor maternal and child health and infectious diseases in developing countries; and giving greater emphasis on equity within and between countries, to “leave no one behind.” The delegates also asked WHO to take steps to ensure it has the resources needed at all levels to achieve the SDGs, to work with countries to monitor their progress toward the Goals, and to take the SDGs into consideration in all WHO programmes of work.

Noting air pollution-related SDG targets (such as target 3.9) and that indoor air pollution causes 4.3 million deaths every year and 3.7 million deaths are attributable to outdoor air pollution, WHA 69 welcomed a new roadmap for responding to adverse health effects from air pollution. The roadmap outlines actions for the 2016-2019 period, including: building and disseminating global evidence and knowledge of the impacts of air pollution on health and on the effectiveness of interventions and policies to address it; enhancing systems to monitor and report on health trends and progress towards the related SDGs; and enhancing the health sector’s capacity to address adverse health effects from air pollution through training, guidelines and national action plans.

In part responding to the May 2016 WHO report, titled ‘The Public Health Impact of Chemicals,’ WHA 69 adopted a resolution on the health sector’s role in the sound management of chemicals (target 12.4). The resolution asks the WHO Secretariat to develop and present to WHA 70 a roadmap outlining concrete actions to enhance health sector engagement towards ensuring chemicals are used and produced in ways that minimize significant adverse effects on human health and the environment by 2020, and towards meeting the associated targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also asks the Secretariat to provide a report on the impacts of waste on health and actions the health sector could take to protect health from such impacts.

Delegates adopted the ‘Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030,’ with a view to accelerating progress towards universal health coverage, as called for in the 2030 Agenda, and a stated WHO objective of contributing to achievement of the SDGs through ensuring equitable access to health workers in every country. The resolution on the Strategy calls for countries to take steps to strengthen their health workforce, including actively forecasting gaps between health worker demand and supply, collecting and report better health workforce data, and ensuring adequate funding for the health workforce.

Delegates also adopted a resolution on childhood obesity, welcoming six recommendations offered by a Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, which include tackling environmental norms that foster obesity, reducing the risk of obesity throughout the lifetime and treating children who are already obese to improve their current and future health. The WHA asked the Secretariat to development an implementation plan to guide follow-up action. WHO estimates that in 2014, 41 million children under five years of age were overweight or obese, 48% of which lived in Asia and 25% in Africa.

Noting that the 2030 Agenda recognized NCDs as a major challenge for sustainable development, delegates asked WHO, in preparation for the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in 2018, to update a set of cost-effective and affordable NCD interventions that can be implemented by all member states.

A resolution on road traffic deaths and injuries called for the WHO Secretariat to support countries in meeting the SDG target of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2020 (target 3.6) through: facilitating voluntary global performance targets on risk factors and service delivery mechanisms; helping countries implement policies and practices, including on trauma care and rehabilitation; and facilitate preparations for the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week in May 2017.

The Assembly’s adoption of a WHO Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA) represents a major governance reform. FENSA aims to outline all policies and procedures governing WHO relations with NGOs, private sector entities, philanthropic foundations and academic institutions, with a view to enhancing transparency and protecting against conflicts of interest and undue influence from external actors. Among other actions agreed, information on all engagements with non-state actors will be posted online. [WHA 69 Press Releases] [WHA 69 Documents] [Third World Network Press Release on FENSA] [IISD RS Story on Chemicals Report]