From 27 May – 1 June, the global health community convened in Geneva, Switzerland for the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA).
In our capacity as a non-state actor (NSA) in official relations with WHO, a delegation from WFSA attended WHA to provide our perspectives on the agenda items.
WHA Agenda
Representing WFSA and its Member Societies were Daniela Filipescu (WFSA President), Carolina Haylock-Loor (President Elect), Adrian Gelb (WFSA Past President), Ronald Harter (President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists), Karima Khalid (Tanzanian Society of Anaesthesiologists), Kristine Stave (WFSA CEO) and Francis Peel (WFSA Communications and Advocacy Manager).
Emergency, Critical and Operative Care
Building on the adoption at last year’s WHA of the Integrated Emergency, Critical and Operative Care for UHC and Protection from Health Emergencies (also known as the ECO Resolution), Member States tabled a follow-up resolution: Development of a global strategy and action plan for integrated emergency, critical and operative care, 2026–2035.
Given the impact of this resolution on our specialty, WFSA delivered a constituency statement during the plenary discussion on this agenda item. Co-signed by 14 NSAs working across the patient pathway, the WFSA-led statement welcomed the proposed action plans and highlighted the central role of anaesthesia professionals in delivering these services and the need for WHO Member States to invest, support and develop the ECO workforce
WHO’s General Plan of Work
A key theme for WHA77 was the WHO 14th General Plan of Work which sets the organisation’s agenda from 2025 to 2028. WFSA has been an active participant in the consultations around drafting GPW14 and joined a constituency statement led by the International Association of Hospices and Palliative Care which highlighted the importance of access to medicines to the realization of GWP activities.
Health and the Climate
Planetary health is one of WFSA’s strategic priorities to this end we are an active voice in the global debate on healthcare’s impacts on the environment. We joined a constituency statement led by the International Federation of Healthcare Engineering on the debate around the the impact of pollutants in all their forms on climate change.
Download the full agenda for WHA 77
WHA Side-Events
WHA is more than just the Assembly, it is a myriad of meetings and side events covering all the major global health issues and more besides. Many of these were live-streamed or recorded for future distribution.
WFSA organised side-events
26 May – 18:00-21:00 (CEST) Revolutionizing Global Health: A Call to Action for Multisectoral Collaboration to Tackle Non-Communicable Diseases with Surgical Intervention and Achieve Sustainable Development. – Mission Thrombectomy, American Heart Association, WFSA, G4 Alliance, Smile Train. Attendance is both in-person and virtual
- John Rose (UCSF) represented WFSA during the panel discussion where he talked about the Utstein Surgical Metrics work that he is a part of.
28 May – 8:00-10:00 (CEST) The Operative Encounter Registry – G4 Alliance, WFSA, GSF, IFSC
- WFSA Past President, Adrian Gelb outlined WFSA’s work convening the Utstein Surgical Indicators Programme and its synergies with the Operative Encounter Register.
28 May – 18:30-21:00 (CEST) Sustainable Development Goals 2030: Health for All Means Pain Care for All – G4 Alliance event organised by WFSA, and International Society for the Study of Pain (IASP).
- WFSA’s President-Elect, Carolina Haylock Loor discussed the global challenges of tackling patients’ acute pain as highlighted in the widely endorsed WFSA Pain Committee’s Acute Pain briefing document. She highlighted the need to ensure availability of opioids in low-resource settings as a means to tackle both acute and chronic pain.
