WHO Regional Director for the Americas Dr Carissa F. Etienne highlighted that addressing COVID-19 will require protecting vulnerable groups including women, underprivileged populations, indigenous populations and migrants, by addressing health, social and economic inequalities.

In his opening remarks at the World Health Assembly, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros declared: ‘We have come together as the nations of the world to confront the defining health crisis of our time.’ In concluding he asserted that the COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that we need a healthier, safer and fairer world with a stronger WHO to support this goal.  

The 73rd World Health Assembly which opened today, will focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. Member States will deliver statements, report their progress in fighting the coronavirus, share knowledge on the evolving situation and consider a draft resolution on COVID-19. It is available live online in Arabic, Chinese, Russian, English, French, and Spanish.  

Japan has agreed to contribute over US$2.7 million to help nine countries in the Americas strengthen their capacities to detect cases, monitor, and control outbreaks of COVID-19, as well as ensure that reliable public health information on the COVID-19 pandemic is available to people involved in the response and the general public.

WHO has published a new scientific brief on “Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents with COVID-19”, given the reported clusters of children and adolescents who require admission to intensive care units with a multisystem inflammatory condition. There is an urgent need for collecting standardized data describing epidemiology, clinical presentations, severity, and outcomes. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros, in his media briefing yesterday, highlighted the need to “unleash the full power of science, to deliver innovations that are scalable, usable, and benefit everyone, everywhere, at the same time”.