WFSA joined constituency statements highlighting access to essential medicines in health emergencies; prioritising NCD diagnosis and treatment to realise UHC; and the health sector’s role in the climate crisis.
The 156th session of the WHO Executive Board runs from 3–11 February 2025. As a non-state actor in official relations with WHO, WFSA can present statements during Executive Board plenary discussions.
Agenda Item 15: WHO’s Work in Health Emergencies
Availability of Essential Medicines in Health Emergencies
4% of the world’s population, people of all ages, are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. Most of those people live in the 85% of the world where the essential palliative care medicines included in Section 2 of the WHO Model List are routinely unavailable even before emergencies hit.
Establishing and monitoring secure supply chains and national stockpiles of essential medicines, including those controlled under the three international drug conventions, are a prerequisite for health emergency preparedness, response and resilience.
People affected by health emergencies frequently experience severe, untreated physical pain, often exacerbated by trauma, and psychological, social, and spiritual suffering. Health-related suffering affects military personnel and vulnerable civilians such as pregnant and nursing women, infants, older adults, persons with disabilities, and individuals of all ages with serious injuries or chronic illnesses.
Emergency response teams need to be trained in the safe use of these essential medicines, which all health systems must have at hand before they are needed in an emergency. The pandemic stress tested emergency medical stocks of even well-resourced health systems, as morphine and midazolam stockouts showed.
Tragically, because health systems fail to ensure their availability, people of all ages affected by health emergencies are living and dying with entirely preventable serious health-related suffering. Member states can take steps to prevent this acute suffering by preemptively investing in:
- Basic surgical, anaesthesia and intensive care services with effective access to medical oxygen
- Basic pain and palliative care services staffed by primary care practitioners and humanitarian health workers trained to treat severe pain from traumatic injuries, wounds, burns, cancer and other acute and chronic illnesses.
- Essential medications for acute health emergencies
- Community-based mental health services
- Sustainable cancer care
- Integrated health and long-term care and support for older people
- Maternal child health and essential medicines for pregnant women, mothers and newborns
We call the Board’s attention to the 2021 INCB, UNODC, WHO Joint Statement on Access to Controlled Medicines in Emergencies, the International Pharmaceutical Federation’s statement of policy on The role of pharmacists in disaster and emergency management, and the International Narcotics Control Board’s Timely Supply of Controlled Substances during Emergency Situations.
We recommend that Member States and WHO emergency response teams:
- Include adequate supplies of oral and injectable essential medicines in formulations appropriate for people of all ages in their essential medicines stock and in humanitarian and NCD response packages.
- Prepare their health workforce and emergency response teams to prescribe and administer essential medicines, including opioids in a safe working environment.
- Conduct public health information campaigns to provide evidence-based information about essential medicines, including those under international control.
Statement signatories alongside WFSA: International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (IAHPC), HelpAge International, International Federation of Surgical Colleges; Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA)
Download EB156 Statement on WHO’s Work in Health Emergencies
Agenda Item 22: Climate Change and Health
Climate change is a pressing global health emergency, threatening the health and well-being of communities worldwide. We commend the WHO on the timely and inclusive development of the draft Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health, which highlights the urgency for transformative action.
We welcome the strong focus on integrating climate and health policy across sectors, emphasizing a holistic approach that places human well-being at the centre of climate action. To strengthen this plan, we propose the following recommendations:
- Include health professionals and civil society in the development, implementation, and evaluation of climate-health strategies. Health professionals, as frontline witnesses to the impacts of climate change, are essential to ensuring effective action.
- Prioritize strong guidance on resilient healthcare systems, particularly in small island developing states and low- and middle-income countries.
- Share evidence-based guidance and good practices to reduce carbon footprints and emission rates in the health sector, taking care to prevent commercial and vested interests from undermining public health objectives.
- Encourage further inter- and multisectoral cooperation to ensure that addressing climate and health becomes a whole-of-society effort.
- Promote public and health sector awareness of the linkages between climate and health, and strengthen research and development on climate-sensitive health threats and health service provision, ensuring equitable access and climate justice for vulnerable communities.
- Establish an ambitious monitoring framework for the Action Plan with clear targets, timelines, and indicators to track progress.
- In 2024, Member States united behind the Resolution on climate change and health. Now, it is time to implement these shared ambitions. Urgent mitigation, including phasing out fossil fuels, is critical to reducing the health burden of climate-related infectious and non-communicable diseases and protecting future generations.
- Let us seize this opportunity to ensure the Global Action Plan translates into meaningful progress for health and equity.
Statement signatories alongside WFSA: FDI World Dental Federation (FDI), FIP International Pharmaceutical Federation, ICN International Council of Nurses, WMA World Medical Association, World Physiotherapy (World Confederation for Physical Therapy), International Federation of Biomedical Laboratory Science (IFBLS), Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS).
Download EB156 Statement on Climate Change and Health
Agenda Item 6: Universal Health Coverage
Global crises such as COVID-19 and climate change provide strong motivation for governments to take action, and yet progress on the SDGs, including NCDs and UHC, is off track for 2030.
We welcome the DG’s report and applaud the recommendation by Member States in the 2023 Political Declaration to reaffirm the principles set forth at the 2018 High-Level Meeting on UHC. We welcome the draft resolutions on Enhancing Global Health Financing and Strengthening national capacities addressing the need for equitable financing mechanisms and support the adaptation and uptake of WHO norms and standards to achieve SDG target 3.8 on UHC and related 2030 targets.
However, we need stronger commitments, especially given the increasing and inequitable burden of NCDs, representing 74% of global deaths, 86% of which occur in LMICs.
Member States must accelerate UHC implementation by including NCD prevention, interventions, treatments, diagnosis, care, and palliative services, in national health benefit packages across the continuum of care, while also aligning and integrating NCD services with other global health priorities.
We urge Member States to engage with civil society and people living with NCDs to keep UHC people-centered. Accountability mechanisms are essential, and we believe that inclusive public health data is crucial to ensure no one is left behind. High out-of-pocket health costs accentuate health inequalities. Member States need to invest in preventing and controlling NCDs by providing sustained resources for UHC, implementing WHO’s guidance on cost-effective interventions.
To close the financing gap, we call for an ambitious global financing target that prioritizes catalytic resource mobilization and adequate implementation of domestic excise taxes on tobacco, sugar-sweetened beverages, and alcohol.
Finally, we call for the implementation of the 2023 UHC Political Declaration and to create momentum for greater progress ahead of the 2027 UN High-level Meeting on UHC. The 2025 UN High-level Meeting on NCDs is a key opportunity to take stock, provide leadership and accelerate progress.
Statement signatories alongside WFSA: Sightsavers (The Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind), HelpAge International, International Society of Nephrology (ISN), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), The MS International Federation (MSIF), PATH, World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF International), International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (IAHPC),Vital Strategies World Heart Federation (WHF), International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), World Hepatitis Alliance Alzheimer’s Disease International, The Fred Hollows Foundation
