Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya expressed disappointment at the World Health Assembly in Geneva at the way the WHO report on high mortality was prepared and published, ignoring concerns expressed by India and other countries.
“The Central Council of Health and Family Welfare, the constitutional body comprising health ministers from all provinces of India, unanimously appealed to me to convey their embarrassment and concern about their participation,” he added.
The 75th session of the World Health Assembly (WHO) has begun in Geneva, Switzerland, to focus on important issues including the response to the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic and global health through a peace process.
Covid-19 remains one of this year’s WHO priorities, the first of its kind in Geneva and visited by delegates since the outbreak more than two years ago, Xinhua news agency reported.
Although WHO data shows that Covid-19 reported cases fell significantly from the Omicron wave in January this year, and mortality rates have fallen significantly since March 2020, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Sunday in his statement? the opening of the WHA that the epidemic is not over and that “it’s not over until it’s over.”
He urged all countries to commit to achieving 70 percent immunization coverage as soon as possible while prioritizing immunization of all health workers, all over 60, and all at high risk.
All countries should keep track of Covid and be prepared to reinstate and rehabilitate public and social services as needed, he said. Countries must also restore essential health services as quickly as possible and work with communities to build trust.
“This epidemic is not the only tragedy in our world,” he said in line with the WHA’s 75th theme “Peaceful life, peace for health,” announcing that the conference’s agenda will include complex humanitarian issues in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South. Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.
“In addition to epidemics, war shakes and destroys the foundations on which stable societies stood. It deprives all communities of vital health resources, leaving children at risk of vaccine-preventable vaccines … Actual war, famine and disease of old friends,” he marveled.
The WHO has confirmed the attacks on 373 health facilities or personnel in 14 countries and territories so far this year. The attack claimed the lives of 154 health workers and patients and injured 131.”Attacks on health workers and health facilities is a violation of international humanitarian law. But it is also an attack on the right to health,” said Tedros.
The seven-day WHO is expected to be one of the most discussed topics and decisions approved, including the appointment of a new WHO Director-General over the next five years. The current King Tedros is the only candidate.