19 May 2020

At today’s meeting of the 73rd World Health Assembly —its first-ever to be held virtually—delegates adopted a landmark resolution to bring the world together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resolution, co-sponsored by more than 130 countries, was adopted by consensus.

It calls for the intensification of efforts to control the pandemic, and for equitable access to and fair distribution of all essential health technologies and products to combat the virus. It also calls for an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the global response, including, but not limited to, WHO’s performance.

As WHO convened ministers of health from almost every country in the world, the consistent message throughout the two-day meeting—including from the 14 heads of state participating in the opening and closing sessions —was that global unity is the most powerful tool to combat the outbreak. The resolution is a concrete manifestation of this call, and a roadmap for controlling the outbreak.

In his closing remarks to the Assembly, the DIrector-General outlined how WHO is fighting COVID-19 with every tool at its disposal.

As with the opening, leaders from around the world spoke during the closing of the Assembly.

New Executive Board members were elected:

The World Health Assembly will reconvene later in the year.

Key materials:

Press release

WHO Director-General’s closing remarks at the World Health Assembly

World Health Assembly page with video recordings
Main documents for WHA
WHA Journal