Friday 18th, MAY 2007

PLENARY ASSEMBLY of the WHO (Morning)

Item 6 The plenary meeting opened at 9:00. The election of 12 members entitled to designate a person to serve on the Executive Board (EB) was adopted. The countries elected are: Bahamas, Indonesia, Malawi, New Zeland, Paraguay, Peru, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Korea, Sao Tome and Principe, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain end Northern Ireland.

Item 8 The First report of Committee A (Technical health matters and small pox eradication) was unanimously adopted by the Assembly.


COMMITTEE A (Morning)

Item 12.7 Technical and Health matters: Evidence-based strategies and interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm

This particular issue raised a lot of comments and the importance of a resolution on alcohol-related harm wax emphasised.
However, many delegations wanted to amend the draft paper like New Zeeland, Grenada, Barbados who whished to remove the mention of the creation of an expert committee able to make recommendation. Another amendment proposed was the replacement of the word plan by strategy, considered much more adapted to the issue context. New Zeeland also proposed the mention of the alcohol traffic issue in the resolution’s preamble.
Furthermore, the delegation of the Federation of Russia emphasised the short term positive effect of the anti-alcohol campaign in Russia. The new should take into consideration the deep social and contextual roots and also state consequences of such disease in order to form effective polities. Vulnerable groups should also be mentioned. In the future measures to be taken, one should pay attention to the particularity of each region, in recognizing the importance of the individual approach. Russia also clearly stated that it was against the increase of alcohol prices, which would only have for consequence to give incentives to illicit alcohol sales.
Canada proposed the mention of harmful consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. The Canadian delegation also proposed to take into consideration the addiction causes into consideration. Like Slovenia, who reaffirmed the special social conditions of this issue, in particular with youngsters.
Burundi also emphasised the fact, that despite alcohol related problems were considered as a non-communicable disease, it could certainly lead to communicable diseases such as HIV/ AIDS.
The US delegation took the floor to denounce the fact that the two draft proposals were not submitted to the Executive Bureau as the common procedure requires and that for more transparency and to end the amendment debate, calls for an representative open-ended drafting committee on this special matter. (…) Discussion was then suspended.


COMMITTEE B, (Morning)

ITEM 18: Collaboration within the United Nations system and with other intergovernmental organizations, Doc. A60/39

The member states congratulated the WHO for the reforms of Doc. A60/39 which was accepted, and the WHO General Secretariat promised to share information on the progress of these reforms with members. However some states commented on the text.
Switzerland reminded the Assembly of the necessity for the WHO to take a global leadership role in the issue of health. It must cooperate with other agencies but it has to maintain a certain independence.
India expressed its worries and disappointment concerning the absence of a South East Asian country among the pilot countries (apparently, there’s a problem with Vietnam that is part of the list of the eight pilot countries). It also asked for more details on the structure of the regional mechanisms.
China asked the WHO to avoid political issues and concentrate on health ones.
Belgium encouraged the harmonization of national health systems.
Iraq asked for a greater decentralization of power towards national offices.

Doc. A60/INF.DOC/2, Joint report of the Director-General and the President of the International Narcotic Control Board.

Accepted without any intervention

ITEM 12.16: WHO’s role and responsibilites in health research

Philippines proposed the creation of a mechanism, on the model of the Philippines’ research mechanism, to improve the communication and use of research.
Japan ecouraged the WHO to maintain its work on tropical diseases.
Cameroon emphasized that health research is always at the lowest level of priority in Africa and asked for more support from WHO and foreign investors.
Sweden thinks that the WHO should coordinate all the results of global research.


Non aligned Movement Meeting (NAM) 14:00

This meeting was a very short informative one and further meetings on the same matter are to be held soon.

Cuba, as the chair of the non aligned movement organised consultations on the Meeting of NAM Health Ministers during the 61st session of the World Health Assembly (2008).
The purpose of the meeting was to keep inform the NAM delagation of the 2008 NAM Ministers Meeting at the occasion of the next WHA, in Geneva.
The Cuban delegate recalls us the last NAM Meeting in Havana in September 2006, and particularly its final declaration. Paragraphs 266, 267 and 269 reaffirm the importance of health issues for NAM countries. Some further consultations before the 2008 WHA NAM meeting are to be hold either in Geneva or in New York.





Meeting of the delegation of Member States of the South-East Asia Region 13:00


The session began with Thailand’s proposal to add a mention of Southeast Asia in the Item 12.17 concerning the Progress in the rational use of medicines. They presented a new draft which was welcomed by all the countries of the group. Therefore Timor is standing aside Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries on this issue.
The importance of showing the solidarity of the region was reminded to all by the Chairperson.

A significant discussion on the statement that will be made in Committee B on behalf of the South-East Asia Region was started. India stated at once that the most important line to follow was the one of consensus between the States. They made the assertion that individual statements made by countries of the group during the Committee wouldn’t undermine the region’s unity but only strengthen the consensus between the Asian Nations. They asked States to try not to contradict another State from the group when speaking, in order to reinforce the solidarity of the region.
Bhutan expressed the will to raise the question of drugs in the Private sector issue and of the responsibility of the States towards this matter. And Indonesia urged member States to develop an empowerment system.
The Chairperson reminded the assembly that amendments, if presented at the end of a Committee session, could do more harm than good. According to him, it is better to only propose the draft resolution. And this behaviour would permit the region as a whole to be effective and show a great unity during the Committee.

There were three components that they hoped the Assembly would agree on. It was the Interim guidelines which are the:
_Revise term of reference
_Overside mecanism
_Benefit sharing package

The drafters were India supported by Thailand, Maldives and Indonesia. The question raised by the Chairperson was the following: How are we going to consider the draft presented by Brazil? 3 options were presented.
_ Support Brazil’s draft resolution.
_ No support to Brazil on the matter.
_ Support Brazil’s draft resolution but add amendments to it.
Indonesia expressed it full supports, and the Maldives as well. Bhutan made a good point to the assembly of Southeast region countries as he showed that there was a tacit support in the draft made for the region. This was clear in this sentence: “The countries of the South-East Asia Region support many points in the resolution by Brazil, and while we are not sure whether a resolution is needed at this stage, we do not object to having one”. So if the countries accept this draft, they indirectly support the Brazilian resolution.

The present States were in accordance concerning the fact that they refuse an extension of the timeframe of the Inter-Governmental Working Group (IGWG). They want to stick to the timeline in order for the process to move on. Region will therefore not support an extension of the timeframe of the IGWG.





Technical Meeting: Health and Migration 13:00

This meeting proposed to raise the question of the health of migrants, especially with respect to the migration of health workers (doctors, nurses, midwives). According to Anders Nordström, one of the lecturers, this issue is a really important one because many poor or developing countries are currently experiencing a critical shortage of health workers. The South-East Asia is concerned, and in particular Timore-Leste.
Some “push factors” were discussed, which explain that these countries suffer from a lack of health workers : poor working conditions, few opportunities for professional development, violence and insecurity. The “pull factors” were remuneration, work opportunities and diaspora links. According to the lecturers, any strategies in this field must stand on three pillars : (1) improving education and practice, (2) developing recruitment and (3) developing the governance of migrations (database, human resources, observatories). The role of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in this field was also highlighted. The IOM can help states to harmonize their policies, to cooperate and to develop partnerships at all phases of the migration process.

Committee A (afternoon)

The Committee discussed Technical and Health Matters. The item 12 was therefore continued. The first debate was brought by the United States for whom the session was badly prepared as the Committee of experts’ report was accessible only on the web and was available only in English.

Item 12.3 the resolution on the Control of Leishmaniasis was to be approved. Amendments were raised by different States. India wanted to add in the preamble that the Members of the Southeast Asian region were collaborating to eliminate the disease by 2015. The Canadian will was to eliminate §11, and Thailand wanted to take out the words “including information” from §6(bis). As there was no objection to these amendments, the resolution EB118.R3 was approved.
Item 12.4 concerning the Poliomyelitis: the mechanism for management of potential risks to eradication and its resolution were discussed. As there were no demands for amendments, the resolution EB120.R1 was approved at once.
The tuberculosis issue in item 12.6 was examined. Kuwait and Ethiopia asked for some changes to be made in §2. The United States asked for Thailand’s clarification over the necessity of the word resources in §1(e). And Benin wanted to know if the French translation of the resolution was correct. The subject will be reviewed.

The afternoon debate lied on the issue of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). It important to remind here that Timor-Leste actually isn’t concerned about those diseases. The resolution on the matter received an important support from the present Member States. About 35 States made statements. The central points that were mentioned by the States were the necessity to label the food, control the imported food, the importance of the lifestyle behaviour and the economic and social situations of populations in order to fight the NCDs,
the necessity to fight the diseases when children are still young to be more effective and to have appropriate primary healthcare, to have laws in order to limit tobacco consumption, and finally the necessity to promote physical activities. It was reminded to all that it is important to collaborate on this issue.
Some changes were demanded as some following examples illustrate this. Japan proposed three changes: the combination of §6 and 8 as they are overlapping, a change in §10, and adding the words “health eating habits” and “health diet” in §6. The Philippines recommended the adoption of a treaty over the NCDs. And Mexico asked for the incorporation of a new paragraph urging the States to promote the dialogue between Member States in order to deal with diabetes and obesity.


Commission B (afternoon)

This was the fifth meeting of the Commission B. Item 12.17 concerning the progress in the rational use of medicines was continued as it had been left unfinished the day before. Twelve countries made a statement: Japan, Burkina Faso, China, Thailand, Great-Britain, United States of America, Namibia, Argentina, South Africa, Botswana, Republic of Korea and Kuwait. They all stressed the importance of an action on this issue. The resolution was adopted.
The Item 12.18 about the issue of better medicines for children was then discussed. Brazil was took the floor first and it emphasizes the importance to guarantee the access of essential medicines. It proposed a first amendment to the Resolution EB120.R13 which was opened for discussion, insisting on States to take effective measures. The delegation of Philippines then asks for a second amendment; they want medicines to be available and affordable. A third and last amendment was proposed by Thailand, concerning collaboration with States, international organizations, OMC, WIPO, ONG and pharmaceutical industries in order to secure the financing. All the other states supported the resolution.
In accordance with Rule 49 of Procedure of the WHO, the floor was given to two international organizations: the International Paediatric Association and the Union national de pharmacologie clinique de base. They consider the resolution to be acceptable, but they want it to be followed by action. The Chairman then announced that the draft resolution including the amendments will be considered as a Conference Paper at the next meeting of the Committee.

Item 12.20 (Public health, innovation and intellectual property : progress made by the Intergovernmental Working Group) was then opened to discussion. It should have been discussed on Monday, but the delegation of Brazil asks for discussing it today and this proposition was accepted. Ms. Chan highlighted the complexity of the issue. The delegation of Switzerland first took the floor and said that the issue should be discussed once the report (global strategy) of the secretariat is finished. The delegation of Brazil didn’t agree to wait until July (probably) and wanted to discuss some keys elements. The delegations of Surinam and Argentina proposed amendments to the draft resolution. India, in name of South-East Asia countries, including Timor-Leste, gave its support to the delegation of Brazil.
Discussion on this issue will resume at the next meeting of the Committee.