WHO unveils ambitious health targets to benefit 3 billion people

GENEVA: The World Health Assembly (WHA) unveiled an ambitious plan on Monday aiming to benefit an overall population of 3 billion globally for the next five years with better health care and well-being.

The plan, entitled 13th General Program of Work, was reviewed and passed during the first day of the 71th WHA, which kicked off in Geneva on Monday, to guide the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2019 to 2023.

The plan sets three strategic priorities to ensure healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, namely, to help 1 billion more people benefit from universal health coverage; 1 billion more people to be better protected from health emergencies; and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being. In his opening speech at the WHA, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defined three keys behind the triple-billion targets. First is a strong WHO and leadership team that’s more efficient and effective in its business practices; then the political commitment from governments, as “with buy-in from the highest levels, anything is possible,”; and third is an “even deeper and stronger” partnership “in whatever way we can to achieve our goal.”

Though the latest WHO annual report on the state of the world’s health, which was released on Thursday, highlighted remarkable progress in pushing forward the UN Sustainable Development Goals in some areas, it also warned that the progress has stalled and the gains already made could be easily lost.

The report underlined that still less than half the people in the world today get all of the health services they need; that almost 100 million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2010 due to health service bills; that 13 million people die every year before the age of 70 from cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and cancer, mostly in low and middle-income countries; and that every day in 2016, 15,000 children died before reaching their fifth birthday.

“This is unacceptable,” Dr. Tedros said, which is why “We are transforming how we work to achieve our vision of a world in which health is a right for all. We are changing the way we do business.”To fulfil the triple-billion plan, the WHO has vowed to step up leadership at all levels, drive impact in every country, and focus global public goods on impact.