Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05GENEVA2471
2005-10-14 03:57:00
UNCLASSIFIED
US Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

WHO: FIFTY-FIFTH MEETING OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE

Tags:  AORC PREL EAID SOCI WHO 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 002471 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR IO/T
PASS TO HHS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC PREL EAID SOCI WHO
SUBJECT: WHO: FIFTY-FIFTH MEETING OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
FOR EUROPE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 002471

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR IO/T
PASS TO HHS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC PREL EAID SOCI WHO
SUBJECT: WHO: FIFTY-FIFTH MEETING OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
FOR EUROPE


1. Summary. The 52-member WHO Regional Committee for Europe
(EURO) met from September 12-15, 2005, in Bucharest, Romania.
WHO Director-General J.W. Lee participated in the opening
session. In his remarks he focused on avian influenza,
universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, recalling the G8
goal, polio eradication, chronic diseases, violence, and the
International Health Regulations. In an embarrassing gaffe
Lee recalled the World Health Assembly's recognition of the
negative impact on health of free trade agreements when in
fact the Assembly had done no such thing. The Committee
adopted nine resolutions on such issues as promoting better
health for children and adolescents, including the European
Strategy for Child and Adolescent Health, reducing the harm
done by injuries and violence, increased preparedness for
health emergencies, and fighting obesity and harmful use of
alcohol. The Committee selected Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey
and Latvia to serve on the WHO Executive Board beginning in
May 2006. The Regional Committee will meet next in
Copenhagen on 17-20 September 2006. End summary.


2. Report of the Director-General: Dr. J.W. Lee, who spent
only the opening session at the Committee, began his remarks
by informing Committee members that the new International
Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm) had been launched
on September 9. The facility is designed to increase the
number of children who could be protected by vaccination.
Lee also stressed the importance of emergency preparedness
and response, citing outbreaks of avian influenza in
Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, and the need to
prepare for an influenza pandemic. The Director-General
asserted that universal access to treatment was the main goal
of WHO's efforts to combat disease, particularly HIV/AIDS and
tuberculosis. He also stressed the need to focus on chronic
diseases, citing the problems of drug and alcohol abuse by
adolescents, particularly binge drinking. Noting the need to
bring those outside the conventional health sector into the
health debate, Lee said patent issues have brought public
health concerns directly into international trade
negotiations. He then stated the World Health Assembly this

year had recognized the danger of bilateral free trade
agreements in restricting flexibility in the health sector.
The WHO legal adviser later confirmed to USDel that the
Health Assembly had taken no such decision and attributed
this error to "over reaching" by the speech writers.


3. Report of the Regional Director: Dr. Marc Danzon began
his address by identifying three guides for the work of the
Regional Office: the program of work for 2004-2005, his
vision for developing the Office into a modern, more credible
and adaptable organization, and the strategy for matching
services to countries' needs. As examples, he cited
coordinating the European response to the tsunami in Asia in
2004; working with UNAIDS to increase access to HIV/AIDS
treatment in the region; sponsoring conferences on mental
health, the environment, immunizations, and obesity; closer
partnerships with the European Commission, the World Bank,
and UN organizations such as UNICEF; and cooperation with the
European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.


4. Invited speaker: The European Commissioner for Health
and Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou, said his
participation in the Committee meeting signaled the EC's
commitment to closer cooperation with the Regional Office and
WHO as a whole. He suggested such cooperation would enable
the EU and WHO to overcome the problem of decreasing
resources and win wider political support for their shared
agenda. He stressed investing in preventing disease and
tackling lifestyle problems such as tobacco, obesity and
alcohol.


5. European Strategy for Child and Adolescent Health: The
Regional Committee adopted this strategy to increase efforts
to reach the goal of enabling children and adolescents to
reach their full potential for health and development and to
reduce the burden of avoidable disease and mortality. The
strategy follows four principles: a life-course approach
that considers the full course of prenatal life to
adolescence; putting the needs of the most disadvantaged at
the top of the agenda to ensure equity; working through
intersectoral action; and facilitating public and youth
participation. Priority areas in the strategy include
HIV/AIDS, obesity, violence and injuries, measles and
rubella, and mental health.


6. Framework for alcohol policy in the WHO European Region:
The Regional Committee endorsed this Framework, which
provides policy options for Member States to use in
formulating national alcohol policies and national alcohol
action plans. The resolution on alcohol adopted by the World
Health Assembly in May (WHA 58.26) provided the impetus for
developing the European Framework, and several delegations
were successful in aligning the resolution accompanying the
Framework with that of the Health Assembly - specifically, to
emphasize public health problems resulting from harmful use
of alcohol. Similar attempts, particularly by the U.K., to
emphasize cooperation with the alcohol industry were not
successful, although the EURO Secretariat provided assurances
that its work was in consultation with the industry. WHO
Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and
Mental Health LeGales-Camus also stressed the need to
coordinate with industry.


7. Interventions on alcohol stressed the need to reflect
public health interests in all international agreements
related to alcohol, such as those on trade and taxation; to
call for age limits on the purchasers of alcohol; and to
restrict alcohol advertising, particularly on the Internet.
The German intervention included a directive to the
Secretariat to "lay off industry" and suggested the

SIPDIS
resolution's call for a legal database in the European
Alcohol Information System was likely to be an expensive
undertaking with few results. In a bizarre intervention, the
WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr.
Hussein Gezairy (Saudi Arabia),suggested that alcohol not be
allowed on WHO premises nor served at WHO social events. He
also called for the negotiation of a framework convention on
alcohol and a report by the World Bank on the economics of
the alcohol trade. There was no indication that members of
the Regional Committee welcomed these proposals. The EURO
Regional Director told USDel he had invited Gezairy to the
meeting because he needs his help in dealing with
Israeli-Palestinian issues. Israel is a member of the WHO
European region.


8. Avian and pandemic influenza: Although not on the
Regional Committee's agenda, the WHO headquarters and
regional office secretariats presented a technical briefing
on avian and pandemic influenza, focusing on the current
situation in South-east Asia, WHO's plans to respond to the
avian influenza pandemic threat, the problems associated with
risk assessments, and anti-viral stockpiling issues. There
was also a discussion of upcoming meetings, including the
U.S. IPAPI initiative, EU meetings, and the planned WHO
donors meeting on pandemic preparedness. This discussion led
the French delegation to criticize the "pandemic of meetings."


9. WHO Executive Board: The Regional Committee selected
Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey and Latvia to represent the region
on the WHO Executive Board beginning in May 2006. The
European region (as well as the Western Pacific region)
gained an additional seat on the Board when amendments to
Articles 24 and 25 of the WHO Constitution went into effect.


10. Next meeting: The fifty-sixth session of the Regional
Committee will meet at the Regional Office in Copenhagen from
11-14 September 2006.

Cassel