The 74th World Health Assembly was unlike any other. A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, it provided a moment of reckoning and reflection on the World Health Organization’s role and a chance to address some of the major challenges that have emerged.
However, for many observers, WHA74 fell short of expectations — making almost no progress on critical issues such as vaccine equity and an international pandemic treaty.
“There was no plan to address immediately the vaccine situation … World leaders at the start of the World Health Assembly … all were talking about vaccine inequity but there was no such plan or decision or resolution on that,” said Jenny Lei Ravelo, Devex’s senior global health reporter.