This document summarizes resolutions and decisions from various World Health Assembly and Executive Board meetings that are of regional concern. Key topics discussed include strategies for HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, food safety, epilepsy, non-communicable diseases, harmful use of alcohol, social determinants of health, and sustainable financing. The regional office will support member states in implementing frameworks, strategies, and plans on these issues through regional consultations, capacity building, and technical guidance. Progress on non-communicable diseases and neurological disorders in particular falls short of targets in most member states in the region.

1. Resolutions and decisions of regional
interest adopted by WHA74, EB148 and
EB149
Dr Rana Hajjeh
Director, Programme Management
14 October 2021

2. Global resolutions and decisions of regional concern
WHA74(20) – The global health sector strategies on, respectively, HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs
WHA73.5 – Strengthening efforts on food safety
WHA73.10 – Global actions on epilepsy and other neurological disorders
WHA74(11) – The role of the global coordination mechanism on the prevention and control of NCDs in WHO’s
work on multi-stakeholder engagement for the prevention and control of NCDs
WHA74(10) – Follow-up of the political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on
the prevention and control of NCDs
EB146(14) – Accelerating action to reduce the harmful use of alcohol
WHA74.16 – Social Determinants of Health
EB148(12) – Sustainable financing
WHA74.5 – Oral health

3. WHA74.5 – Oral health
• A framework for action is under development to
integrate oral health in the Region’s UHC strategy
• Oral health promotion toolkit adapted from the WHO
Regional Office for Africa’s Promoting oral health in
Africa (2016) manual – being finalized
• Member States are encouraged to prioritize the
development of policies, strategies and plans for the
promotion of oral health

4. WHA74(20) – The global health sector strategies on HIV, viral
hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (GHSS)
• The GHSS has the three
strategies integrated in one
overall strategy
• A regional action plan for
the implementation of the
GHSS will be developed
consultatively in 2022

5. WHA74(10) – Follow-up of the political declaration of the third high-level
meeting of the General Assembly on prevention and control of NCDs
• Regional consultation to develop WHO NCD
implementation roadmap 2023–2030 to accelerate progress
towards SDG target 3.4
• Update of regional framework for action for NCDs to
integrate air pollution as a risk factor
• Addressing diabetes as a global public health problem
• A position paper developed on the food system to address
the double burden of malnutrition to ensure a healthy and
sustainable diet
< 10% of Member States in the Region are
expected to achieve SDG target 3.4.1 on
premature mortality reduction from NCDs
by one third, by 2030

6. WHA74(11) The role of the global coordination mechanism on the
prevention and control of NCDs in WHO’s work on multistakeholder
engagement for the prevention and control of NCDs
• Regional consultation to develop a WHO framework for
meaningful engagement of people living with NCDs and
mental health conditions
• Support Member States and non-State actors to develop
workplans to roll out the implementation
• Ongoing implementation with Member States and
stakeholders of the regional nutrition strategy and the
regional framework for action on obesity prevention –
focus on nutrition and diet risk factors (salt/fat/sugar reduction,
breastfeeding)

7. WHA73.5 Strengthening efforts on food safety
• Support Member States to establish a modern, harmonized and
evidence-based framework for food legislation
• Build capacity to estimate incidence/disease burden associated
with hazard/food combinations (One Health approach)
• Harmonize national food safety systems with the Codex
Alimentarius
• Propose global food safety indicators and targets by 2030
General guidance for Member States for the
implementation of the strategy

8. WHA73.10 Global actions on epilepsy and other
neurological disorders
• Regional consultation on the first draft of the
Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy
and other neurological disorders held virtually
in July 2021
• Member States’ interventions during the
consultation will contribute to the global action
plan
38% increase
in the burden of
neurological
disorders between
1990 and 2016
across countries of
the Region

9. EB146(14) Accelerating action to reduce the harmful use
of alcohol
• Technical consultation conducted virtually (Feb. 2021)
• Fed into the Working document for development of an
action plan (2022–2030) to effectively implement the global
strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol as a public
health priority
Alcohol per capita (APC)
consumption in the Region is
estimated to be 0.6 L of pure
alcohol/year compared to the
global APC consumption of 6.0
L/year
The Region’s share of global
alcohol consumption is under 1%
but 70.5% of alcohol consumption
in the Region is unrecorded

10. WHA74.16 Social determinants of health
• The Regional Office will support the process of
development of an operational framework for action on
reducing health inequities led by WHO headquarters, along
with additional SDH technical products
• This will complement ongoing work to roll out the
recommendations of the regional Commission on SDH
launched in early 2021
• Dedicated panel discussion held during RC68

11. EB148(12) Sustainable financing
• The Regional Office has actively engaged in the global Working Group on
Sustainable Financing and is liaising with Member States
• The Group aims to ensure WHO is financed and can make decisions to avoid
“poverty pockets” for less attractive but needed programmes through:
• Advocating for a gradual increase of Assessed Contributions funding
• Replenishment mechanism for the base segment in the WHO Programme Budget
through donor countries and non-State actors
• A dedicated session and update will be provided to the Regional Committee

12. Thank you