WFSA’s statement at the Special Session of the World Health Assembly on preparedness and response to health emergencies. The statement highlights the centrality of anaesthesia’s role in responding to global health emergencies.
As the foremost global network of anaesthesiologists, the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), support the prioritisation of an assessment of the benefits of the development of a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response.
The WFSA believes that such a convention is long overdue. We urge the Working Group, to recognise the following points when making their assessment in order to ensure the best possible patient outcomes:
- the importance of a well-functioning and adequately funded health system;
- the central role that anaesthesiologists have played in non-clinical pandemic management;
- the resuscitation and critical care management of severely ill patients during pandemics, including for example, COVID-19, SARS and Ebola; and
- to include provision for ongoing management of non-COVID healthcare problems
