Health Policy Watch: WHO’s EB Considers New Ways To Work With NGOs — Some Countries Criticise Activists’ Role At WHA 72
“In the wake of a World Health Assembly that became a focus of intense activist and social media attention over a WHO resolution on medicines price transparency, member states are now looking at new rules for shaping involvement of NGOs and other ‘non-state actors’ at public WHO meetings. On Wednesday, a proposal for revising procedures on the Involvement of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in meetings like the World Health Assembly (WHA) was the focus of an initial review at the 145th WHO Executive Board (EB) session. … The WHO report, still under development, suggests the creation of a separate, annual ‘World Health Forum’ to provide a dedicated venue for interactions between member states and non-state actors — while curtailing their formal involvement in the WHA somewhat…” (Fletcher, 5/30).