WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia: report of the Seventy-fourth session, Nepal

Overview

The WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia is the World Health Organization’s governing body in the South-East Asia Region. It has representatives from all its 11 Member States. The Regional Committee meets in September every year to review progress in health development in the Region, formulate resolutions on health issues for Member States and review past resolutions. It also considers the regional implications of World Health Assembly resolutions, among others. This report summarizes the discussions of the Seventy-fourth Session of the Regional Committee for South-East Asia held virtually, with Nepal in the Chair, on 6–10 September 2021. This was the second full-fledged Regional Committee Session to be held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives from 10 of the Region’s Member States participated in the Session. The Ministerial Roundtable featured a discussion of the honourable health ministers on key measures to ‘build back better’ essential health services in the context of the ongoing pandemic to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The Committee also discussed, through a special procedure of ‘Written Silence’, several public health issues relevant to the Region such as progress on prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases including oral health and integrated eye care, monitoring progress on universal health coverage, the Regional Vaccine Action Plan, strengthening public health emergency preparedness and response, and revitalizing school health. The Committee reviewed reports on progress in the implementation of several of its past resolutions. The Committee adopted a Ministerial Declaration on essential health services during COVID-19.