Press Release | 25 May 2024

Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa and the Department of Health (DOH) delegation have arrived in Geneva, Switzerland for the 77th World Health Assembly this week.

The World Health Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO). It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board. The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget. The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly is being held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 27 May – 1 June 2024. The theme of this year’s Health Assembly is: All for Health, Health for All.

“Today, Ambassador Carlos D. Sorreta and his team at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations will brief our young DOH delegation. I intentionally brought along junior to mid-level former DTTBs and public health leaders in the DOH,” said Secretary Herbosa.

There are 25 members of the PHL delegation to the 77th WHA, including many Supervising Health Program Officers and Medical Officers IV and V. They are the Division Chiefs and Section Heads from DOH units handling health human resources, quarantine, international health, planning and strategy, tropical medicine, and health promotion.

The Secretary of Health, along with Undersecretaries Kenneth G. Ronquillo, Gloria J. Balboa, Emmie Liza Perez-Chiong, and Assistant Secretaries Frances Mae Cherryl K. Ontalan and Maylene M. Beltran will mentor the staff as they themselves prepare and deliver Philippine country positions on universal health coverage, noncommunicable diseases, immunization, tuberculosis, and maternal health. There will also be agenda items on public health emergencies, social determinants of health, climate change and health, and health economics.

“Let us prepare the next generation of Philippine public health leaders. By supporting them at the world stage, we are securing the future of Philippine and Global health. Their voices will be the Filipino voice in all the discussions here at the 77th WHA,” added the Health Chief.