The Bureau of the Working Group on the Amendment of International Health Regulations (WGIHR) rejected the WHO Secretariat’s proposal to delete equity-related amendment proposals (Article 13 A, Article 44 A and Annex 10).
The WGIHR Bureau did not circulate the Secretariat’s proposals as the Bureau’s text.
The Secretariat had prepared the draft Bureau text following the decision of the 6th meeting of WGIHR, wherein Member States entrusted the Bureau to prepare a revised text on equity- related proposals. The report of WGIHR6 states:
“Regarding the proposed amendments to Article 13, Article 13A, Article 44, Article 44A, Annex 1 and new Annex 10 relating broadly to equity, capacity-building and financing to support capacity-building and the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005), the Bureau will consider the proposals and facilitate informal consultations during the intersessional period with a view to sharing a revised text ahead of the seventh meeting of the WGIHR.”
As is the practice in most of the WHO processes, the Secretariat prepared the documents for the Bureau.
The Secretariat had communicated textual proposals on these equity-related proposals on Friday afternoon (2 February) for the consideration of the Bureau. The Bureau had circulated textual proposals on Articles 13 and 44, and Annex 1, but had yet to take a decision regarding the circulation of the Secretariat’s text as the Bureau’s text on Articles 13A and 44A.