Statement on WHO’s Work in Health Emergencies

The Global Coalition for Circulatory Health Members –  of which WONCA is a member –  delivers a statement on the occasion of the 150th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board.

The joint statement focuses on the WHO’s work in health emergencies and calls on the Member States to:

• Prioritize ongoing prevention, screening, and treatment for circulatory conditions in national COVID-19 response and recovery plans through patient co-creation;

• Increase domestic allocation of resources and develop targeted policies to tackle CVD and NCD risk factors, including the commercial determinants of health, through mechanisms such as taxation of unhealthy commodities;

• Integrate monitoring and data collection on NCD prevalence, comorbidities, and risk factors into measures of pandemic readiness, resilience, and response;

• Strengthen Primary Health Care and invest in family medicine to ensure equitable access to essential health services, particularly for people living with NCDs and in low-resource settings; and

• Strengthen the NCD component of emergency preparedness and response by formalizing these actions in a WHO convention, agreement or international instrument on pandemic preparedness.

Read the Global Coalition for Circulatory Health Members full statement

WHO - 150th session of the Executive Board

The 150th session of the WHO Executive Board takes place on 24-29 January 2022. The agenda items of the session include public health emergencies: preparedness and response, which priority is to support a radical reorientation of health systems towards primary health care, as the foundation of universal health coverage, by restoring, expanding and sustaining access to essential health services, especially for health promotion and disease prevention. 

Find more information here.