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26/1/09 WHO Executive
Board 124th Session,
Geneva,
19-27 January 2009
The first of many agenda items
for the session was Item 4.9: The WHO’s Role and Responsibilities in
Health Research (continued). The want for an additional paragraph to be
added to the document that was requested by the delegation from Mali was
addressed by the Director General and more time was asked of the Chairman
to allow for previous resolutions to be obtained that would affect this
decision. The item was then closed.
The next document was Item 4.10
International Recruitment of Health Personnel: Draft Global Code of
Practice (continued). The issue required a vote on one of two timelines
that would be applied to the issue. Option A, the item would be brought to
the Executive Session in January of 2010. Under Option B, the item would
be moved to the agenda for the World Health Assembly in May of 2009. After
some questions about the document were raised, the Director General agreed
that the item should be clarified by the Secretariat and common papers,
and the item be added to the January 2010 agenda.
Item 4.12 Human Organ
Transplantation (continued) was closed as quickly as it was opened. The
Delegation from Hungry sited their concerns that they were not in complete
agreement with the delegation from China and thus the item was left open. Item 6.1 Scale Assessments for
2010-2011 was concluded quickly, stating the board will ask its opinion of
the new U.N. scale in 2010. Item 6.2 Amendments to the
Financial Rules and Financial Regulations, the committee recognized that
there were questions raised about surplus financing and recommended that
the resolution be adopted. The resolution was adopted.
The next item, 7.1 Partnerships
124/23 was met with some clarification concerns. The United States raised
the issue that the wording of the document made it seem as though it was
an endorsement, which would be a finalization of the issue. Denmark
reminded the council that the document would have consequences for the
WHO’s budget and the oversight of its members and suggested that these
goals should be parallel with the strategic ones. Latvia raised concerns
about the clarity of partnerships, what type are used and when, while the
African nations and Consumers International (NGO) worked for better
international frameworks and cooperation. The guidelines were submitted
for endorsement.
After the coffee break, Item 7.2
Multilingualism: Implementation of Action Plan was addressed. The African
nations, represented by Mauritius, recommended that Portuguese be adopted,
as it is one of the primary working languages of the African region.
Issues of a translation “grocery” were brought to the table by China
and the Russian Federation. Concerns of where the budget resources were
being allocated were raised by the United Arab Emirates. The Assistant
Director of Research assured the board that the funds in the papers were
just for that initiative, that there is a growing E-Portuguese database
and that there would be a WHO glossary in the works. The item was then
concluded.
During
Item 7.3 Reports of Committees of the Executive Board EB 124/25, Dr.
Mohammed thanked the many NGO’s who had worked in conjunction with the
WHO to accomplish its many goals and Slovenia thanked the council for its
consideration of the document. The draft was adopted.
The final item of the day was Item 7.4 Provisional Agenda for the Sixty-Second World Health Assembly and Date and Place of the 125th Executive Board EB 124/27 add. 1&2. Many changes were brought to the table, including; the renumbering of the document by the Secretariat, the addition of Tuberculosis to the agenda (China) , the addition of chemical disposal and production (Slovenia), the addition of Viral Hepatitis (Brazil) and the addition of food security by the United Arab Emirates. The United States reminded fellow delegations that items like these should be put on the agenda before the Executive Board meets thus saving time and unnecessary shifting of schedules. Oman then asked for a point of clarity on the food security issue, asking whether the term “security” falls under the WHO’s jurisdiction. The Delegate from Bangladesh insisted that food security was important and that the lack of security would lead people to use unhealthy food substitutes. The Director General agreed that items like these be added before the council meets and that the issue of food security is ambiguous to different nations and recommended that the assembly stay on food safety. The Director General also denied a request for more deliberation by the delegation from the Bahamas and would prepare technical documents without a resolution.
21/1/09 WHO Executive Board 124th Session, Geneva, 19-27 January 2009 The first item on the agenda for the day was Item 4.4: The Prevention of Avoidable Blindness. Nations such as the United States and Singapore used their own countries initiatives as examples in the fight against blindness; the United States for example sited its efforts in the most southern regions of its nation to prevent River Blindness. Issues concerning the non-communicable eye diseases such as Ocular Degeneration and the focus on the individual were also in need of attention, as well as treatment in the periphery. Concerns about funding for these efforts that were raised primarily by African nations and others were addressed by Dr. Alwar, as were concerns on efforts to cooperate within the international framework with the Vision 20/20 initiative. The item was closed after Dr. Alwar’s remarks.
The rest of the session dealt
with the issue of Primary Health Care, or PHC. The concerns of separating
the arguments of traditional medicine and the main body of PHC were dealt
with by a motion offered by South Korea to provide a small informal group
to help merge the drafts. The motion passed. Continuing on with concerns of PHC, the individual was again sited as the primary actor and recipient of care provided by PHC programs and initiatives. The issue of Cholera was approached by India, as it is a growing concern within Indian prisons and innovative techniques are being explored in that country. A request for a comprehensive report on Cholera was offered to the Secretariat for the next World Health Assembly.
The focus of the discussion turned to financial matters and the PHC. The elimination of financial barriers and the emphasis of equality were main issues of the debate. Improving the training of medical personnel was also seen as a key factor in implementing the goals of PHC. Data systems and databases were seen as vital in the spread and effectiveness of PHC in all nations. Non-Governmental Organizations such as the International Commission on Occupational Health, the International Federation of Surgical Colleges and the Peoples Health Movement, brought up issues concerning the vulnerable and high risk groups and the poor, as was the issue of establishing better communications networks between involved organizations.
20/1/09 WHO Executive Board 124th Session, Geneva, 19-27 January 2009
The focus of the discussion before the lunch break was Item 43: HIV/AIDS and Mental Health. Many of the member states addressed concerns that, while they do have facilities that treat cases of HIV/AIDS infections, the coverage of those treatment facilities are limited. A reoccurring theme throughout the debate was extending the treatment of these cases into the periphery of the community by establishing more clinics there. The further training of medical personnel in the area of HIV/AIDS was also addressed, sighting that the current rise of the disease is going to require not only more trained personnel, but also more educated members as well. Potential reasons for the rise were noted as increased drug use in some areas of the world and prisons, which do not provide proper medical care and monitoring. Stigmatization of the disease has also hindered efforts in some regions and focus was given to eliminating that stigma by proper public education on the disease. The most vulnerable groups, women and children, were also addressed as needing more input from the international and regional health care systems. An overall plan for effectiveness was sited as establishing links between the respective fields of mental health and the treatment of HIV/AIDS by having the two fields integrate together more effectively in the future.
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