We are living through a difficult, dangerous and divisive period

The seventy-ninth session of the World Health Assembly kicked off in Geneva on Monday, with the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, highlighting the challenges facing the United Nations organization.

Ghebreyesus said at the opening of the meeting: “We are living in a difficult, dangerous and divisive period.”

This meeting comes one day after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency in Congo and Uganda following the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

The Assembly – the highest decision-making body in the World Health Organization – is not expected to witness the adoption of the “Availability and Benefit-sharing” annex, which is a key part of the WHO Convention on Epidemics, due to the lack of consensus among member states.

The World Health Organization stated in a statement earlier this month that the “access to pathogens and benefit-sharing” system aims to ensure the rapid sharing of pathogens with the potential to cause epidemics, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from their use, such as vaccines, diagnostic tools, and treatments.