GENEVA The 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) has kicked off in Geneva, Switzerland, with a focus on pressing issues including the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the global health for peace campaign.
As reported, Covid-19 is still one of the top worries at this year's World Health Assembly, which is the first of its kind to be held in Geneva and attended by delegates in person since the pandemic began more than two years ago.
Despite the fact that reported Covid-19 cases have decreased significantly since the peak of the Omicron wave in January this year, and deaths have fallen to their lowest level since March 2020, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in his opening address to the WHA on Sunday that the pandemic is not yet over, and that "it's not over until it's over everywhere." He asked all governments to commit to achieving the goal of 70% vaccine coverage as soon as possible, focusing on all health workers, the over-60s, and those at higher risk.
He recommended that all countries continue to monitor and sequence Covid and be prepared to reintroduce and change public health and social policies as needed. Furthermore, countries must immediately restore critical health services and work with communities to build trust.
"The pandemic is not our world's only crisis," he said, echoing the theme of the 75th World Health Assembly, "Health for Peace, Peace for Health," and announcing that the conference's agenda would include complex humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.
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