Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly – Daily update: 19 May 2026

At the World Health Assembly today, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus presented his report on the work of WHO to Member States and the Assembly started general discussion under the theme “Reshaping global health: a shared responsibility”.

The Secretariat presented certificates of achievement for outstanding public health achievements:

In recognition of their outstanding contributions to tobacco control, the following World No Tobacco Day awards certificates were awarded to:

The World Health Assembly decided to continue the drafting and negotiation of the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) Annex under the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement.  The IGWG, as mandated under Article 12 of the Agreement, will continue to prioritize this work.

The goal of the PABS Annex is to provide a framework for ensuring a better, more equitable, response to future pandemics. During the past year, WHO Member States have held extensive negotiations on the Annex, and the outcome of their work was presented to the World Health Assembly.

WHO Member States agreed to submit the outcome of their negotiations on the PABS Annex for consideration by the Eightieth World Health Assembly in May 2027, or at a dedicated special session of the Assembly in 2026.  Adoption of the PABS Annex is critical for the opening for signature of the WHO Pandemic Agreement.  WHO Member States will resume negotiations on the PABS Annex following the World Health Assembly at the seventh meeting of the IGWG being held on 6-17 July 2026.

In Committee A, delegates discussed preparedness for and response to public health emergencies, and noted the report on the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005) and the report of the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

Delegates also discussed the health impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with a focus on the protection of health care and health workers in conflict settings, and took note of the report on WHO’s work in health emergencies.