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A number of important resolutions were adopted at the Health Assembly
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
The World Health Assembly recently concluded its work and, as Margaret Chan (Director-General) stated, important decisions were made at the meeting on air pollution, epilepsy, and mechanisms for interaction with non-governmental organizations.
The resolution on air pollution was adopted to combat the greatest risk to human life and health. According to WHO, more than 4 million people die each year as a result of breathing polluted indoor air, and more than 3 million people die from atmospheric pollution.
It is worth noting that this issue was discussed at the Health Assembly for the first time.
The resolution specifically highlights the role of national health authorities and their responsibility to inform the public about the need to address air pollution issues. In addition, the resolution notes the need for cooperation between different health sectors at the national, regional and local levels.
The Assembly called on member states to establish special services to monitor and record changes in air quality, as well as to maintain a register of citizens' health status to improve epidemiological surveillance of diseases caused by poor air quality, to promote environmentally friendly types of fuel and lighting, and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and experience, and scientific achievements in the field of air pollution issues.
The WHO Secretariat was requested to provide support to Member States in taking action to implement the resolution.
Another resolution adopted at the assembly was a recommendation to strengthen medical care for epilepsy patients. Despite the fact that inexpensive therapy is currently used to combat the disease, 90% of patients do not receive the correct diagnosis or normal treatment due to a lack of resources.
The resolution stresses the need to strengthen national measures to protect the rights of patients diagnosed with epilepsy.
An important point of the resolution was the recommendation to strengthen public awareness and epidemiological surveillance in order to obtain more data on the disease and improve access to necessary medical care.
Particular attention is recommended to be paid to ways of improving access to drugs used in epilepsy, as well as to every possible effort to reduce their cost.
Delegates called on all countries to raise public awareness of the disease and encourage more people to seek quality medical care.
The WHO Secretariat must continue to help WHO Member States combat the global scale of the disease so that patients diagnosed with epilepsy are not subjected to public humiliation and can not only receive the necessary medical care, but also professional education with the possibility of subsequent employment.
Also at the meeting, the delegates decided on the need for cooperation with non-governmental organizations. The delegates decided to finalize the mechanisms for interaction with non-governmental organizations by the next assembly and suggested that Margaret Chan convene an intergovernmental meeting in the near future to present the final draft for approval.
The WHO Secretariat should prepare a list of non-state actors for the next meeting.
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