World Health Assembly approves WHO-South Centre official relations

The Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly  held  in Geneva from 20 to 28 May 2013 approved by consensus  a Resolution A66/46,  the “Agreement between the World Health Organization and the South Centre”, in accordance with Article 70 of the WHO Constitution:  “The Organization shall establish effective relations and co-operate closely with such other inter-governmental organizations as may be desirable. Any formal agreement entered into with such organizations shall be subject to approval by a two-thirds vote of the Health Assembly.”

This agreement is the framework under which the South Centre will be able to officially observe and contribute institutionally to the work of the WHO and its bodies as an intergovernmental observer organization, on par with other intergovernmental organizations.

The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation between WHO and the South Centre in all matters arising in the field of health that are connected with the activities  and commitments of the two organizations, including access to medicines and other technologies.

The agreement reaffirms, “the complementary commitment to serve the needs of their respective Members States (…) through all appropriate means, including by: research activities, information collection and dissemination, and the convening of meetings of representatives of their Member States and other relevant stakeholders.

During the discussion at the WHA on this issue, the representative of China said: “The South Centre as an important intergovernmental organization of development countries plays an irreplaceable role in supporting the work of the United Nations and its agencies, in promoting the South-South solidarity and cooperation, in helping developing countries to build consensus, and in coordinating developing countries’ actions on a range of issues including health. China always takes practical action to support the South Centre’s activities on health issues. China believes that based on the good cooperative relationship which has been established between the WHO and the South Centre, the two organizations should make it official as soon as possible in order to strengthen further cooperation.”

Many other developing countries including Ecuador, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Bolivia and Iraq, as well as the United Kingdom and the United States also spoke in support of the resolution for the South Centre entering into official relations with the WHO.

The South Centre’s Secretariat believes that the formalization of the institutional relationships between WHO and the South Centre is an important step that will benefit the work of both institutions on improving global health in developing countries in particular.

By Germán Velásquez, Special Advisor for Health and Development of the South Centre