71 World Health Assembly, 21–26 May 2018, Geneva, Switzerland
WHCA attended the WHA 71 to initiate its work on a Ten year Reflection book on Impact of the WHO Regional office for Europe.
WHA71 was not business as usual. On the Su
nday before sessions started WHO organised a Walk the Talk event which mobilised over 3,000 people to demonstrate their commitment to enhancing physical activity by ‘walking-the-talk’ individually and in teams from the Palais ‘Broken Chair” square to Lake Geneva. The event was inspiring, bonding and healthy.
WHA71 then went on to chart a new course for the Organization. The Organization's new 5-year strategic plan calls on WHO to measure its success not by its outputs, but by outcomes - by the measurable impact it delivers where it matters most - in countries.
"Ultimately, the people we serve are not the people with power; they're the people with no power," the Director-General said. He told delegates the true test of whether the discussions held in the Assembly this week were successful would be whether they resulted in real change on the ground and he urged them to go back to their countries with renewed determination to work every day for the health of their people.
Closing the Assembly, he said that everything WHO did going forward would be evaluated in the light of the "triple billion" targets which were approved this week in WHO's new five-year strategic plan. By 2023 the targets aim to achieve:
- 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage
- 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies
- 1 billion more people enjoying better health and wellbeing.
Webvideo Dr Tedros