Highlight of Malaysia’s Participation in the 75th World Health Assembly
YB Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin, who led the Malaysian delegation to the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) held in Geneva from 22 to 28 May 2022, was officially elected as the Vice-President of the 75th WHA.
The WHA acts as the ultimate decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a platform that brings together all 194 Member States of the WHO, and also determines the policies of the WHO. The theme of this year’s WHA is “Health for peace, Peace for health”.
During the plenary session, YB Khairy Jamaluddin delivered Malaysia’s national statement in which he expressed grave concerns that the economic disruption caused by the lack of peace would exacerbate socioeconomic determinants of health and derail our vision of “Health for All”. YB Minister further called for fair and equitable distribution of resources needed in a pandemic, quoting the Malay saying, berat sama dipikul, ringan sama dijinjing.
YB Minister also participated as a speaker in the WHO strategic roundtable discussion - Behavioural Science for Better Health. According to the WHO, behavioural sciences focus on understanding why specific behaviours and decision-making processes occur by investigating the drivers of and barriers that operate in a given context at the cognitive, social and environmental levels.
This strategic roundtable provided the opportunity for YB Minister to share Malaysia’s experience in using behavioural insights during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the discussion, YB Minister emphasised that behavioural science was the first line of defence for Malaysia’s health system and Malaysia had seen how insights on behaviour played a big role in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The roundtable discussion also deliberated the way forward, specifically on how to better integrate behavioural sciences into the global health agenda through the WHO’s work and that of Member States.
After the WHA event, the Malaysian delegation participated in the WHO Executive Board Meeting. Malaysia was given further recognition when YB Khairy Jamaluddin was appointed as the Vice Chair of the WHO Executive Board representing the Western Pacific region for 2022-2023, along with candidates representing four other countries namely Bulgaria, Indonesia, Togo and the US. YB Khairy Jamaluddin’s appointment was indeed unprecedented and a great honour for Malaysia.
