Stakeholders appeal to US government on global health issues in advance of World Health Assembly

On April 30, the Office of Global Affairs, Health and Human Services held a Stakeholder Listening Session in advance of the 65th World Health Assembly. The Office of Global Affairs is the primary focal point within HHS on global health issues and will coordinate US policy positions on technical matters for the World Health Assembly.

The session was moderated by Nils Daulaire, Director of the OGA and the U.S. representative to the Executive Board of the World Health Organization. In his opening remarks, Mr. Daulaire emphasized that “The point of the gathering is for your views to help inform the positions we will take, and those positions - in many instances - are still being worked out in a strong inter-agency dialogue.”

The following are some highlights from the stakeholder interventions and discussion (topics are numbered as per their listing on the provisional agenda for the 65th World Health Assembly):

Stakeholder Comments

12 - WHO reform

• WHO is widely recognized to have the worst accreditation process among UN bodies. Encouraged greater transparency and openness in the accreditation process.
• WHO should consider an overhead from donor-specific programs to fund core programs 

13.1 - Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases

• It looks like some of the NCD targets will be ready for the WHA while others will the subject of ongoing discussion – Nils Daulaire and Ambassador Kolker
• A range of stakeholders strongly advocated for the adoption of the original 10 targets around NCDs from the first WHO Discussion Paper at the WHA or by the end of this year.
  • The stakeholders included the American College of Cardiology, NCD Alliance, Livestrong Foundation and the Preventive Health Partnership (American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Association & American Heart Association) 
• The risk of inaction at this juncture is great – if we take appropriate action now, we’ll save ourselves many lives and a lot of money.
• It’s very important to have a multi-sectoral approach
• More member states should provide formal feedback to the NCD discussion
• Focus on health systems and treatment and care for people living with NCDs is glaringly absent. What can we do today to help people living with NCDs?
• Patients should be better engaged in the planning process
• Failures to implement evidence-based child survival efforts lead to significant NCD morbidity

13.12 – Draft global vaccine action plan

• Effective and appropriate technologies can improve health and save people’s lives
• Continued global support is critical for GAVI Alliance supported efforts such as the introduction of vaccines to prevent the leading causes of child death
• Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective public health interventions

13.14 – Consultative Expert Working Group on research and development: financing and coordination

• Commissioner of the FDA will be part of the US Delegation to Geneva – update by Nils Daulaire
• James Love, KEI expressed concerns with the centralized pool fund suggestion of the CEWG and recommended instead multiple pool funds to encourage competition

The Office of Global Affairs will continue to accept written submissions by email (to OGA.RSVP@hhs.gov) until the close of business on May 7, 2012.

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