Introduction

30 civil society representatives from the Global Health Council (GHC) delegation will attend the World Health Assembly Special Session (WHASS), held virtually from November 29 - December 1, 2021. GHC invites you to actively engage at the Special Session to raise our collective voice as members of civil society as the assembly considers the benefits of developing a WHO convention, agreement, or another international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response and takes into account the report of the Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies (WGPR).

Our social media promotion will primarily be focused on Twitter. Please remember to tag @GlobalHealthOrg in all your Twitter posts related to WHASS. Please use the messages, handles, and hashtags below as a guide. We also welcome and encourage the development of your own social media content.

Resources

• WHA SS website
• WHA SS draft provisional agenda
• WHA74(16): Agenda Item 17.3: Decision to consider developing a WHO convention, agreement, or another international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response

Contact Information for GHC Delegates

• For technical assistance on accessing the WHASS virtual platform, please contact the WHO IT support team at WHA-ITsupport@who.int.
• For GHC social media inquiries related to WHASS, please contact, communications@globalhealth.org. For other delegation inquiries, please contact aaluoch@globalhealth.org.

Primary Hashtags and Handles

Hashtags

• #WHASS
• #COVID19
• #PandemicPreparedness
• #HealthSecurity
• #GlobalHealth

Handles

• @GlobalHealthOrg
• @WHO
• @DrTedros

WHA Statements

The GHC delegation submitted a statement on the assembly’s one agenda item:

Consideration of the benefits of developing a WHO convention, agreement or another international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response with a view towards the establishment of an intergovernmental process to draft and negotiate such a convention, agreement or another international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response, taking into account the report of the Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies

Agenda Item: 17.3

Decision to consider developing a WHO convention, agreement, or another international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response

Suggested Tweets

• GHC's Multilateral Roundtable published a paper on @WHO's Working Group for Pandemic Preparedness & Response. Read about our 🔑 recommendations: https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• @WHO has played an indispensable role during the #COVID19 pandemic. Recognizing its value, all independent reviews of the current pandemic have called for strengthening and better preparing the organization for future health threats. https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• We urge the #WGPR to holistically consider the recommendations to strengthen @WHO’s pandemic preparedness and response capabilities and help drive coordination on #globalhealth security and governance. https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• 📣 GHC urges the #WGPR to explore additional concrete solutions, utilizing a gender & intersectional lens. These solutions must be grounded in equity & human rights & should focus on improving leadership & governance, systems & tools, & financing. https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• The #COVID19 pandemic has shown the value of robust engagement with #civilsociety, and other stakeholders. Therefore, the #WGPR should continue to transparently engage non-state actors in ongoing deliberations regarding @WHO strengthening. https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• We call on @WHO to pursue strategies to protect the workforce & local communities from sexual exploitation & abuse. The #WGPR should endorse the full adoption & operationalization of the 3️ pillars outlined in the WHO Management Response Plan. https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• #WGPR should endorse & support elements of the @DrTedros’ transformation agenda to benefit the org’s preparedness & response capacities such as:
• ✔️reducing the average recruitment time
• ✔️enhancing career pathways
• ✔️closing the gender pay gap https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• 📣#WGPR should:
• 👉Acknowledge #IHR system gaps
• 👉 Highlight the links between #IHR reform efforts and broader efforts
• 👉 Advocate for sustainable funding mechanisms for health security capacity building, especially at the country level https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• We call on the #WGPR to align closely with the Working Group on Sustainable Financing to ensure that evolving emergency preparedness requirements are represented in ongoing discussions on @WHO’s long-term financing challenges. https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• We recommend that the #WGPR collaborate with and support the Sustainable Financing Working Group in its goal of evaluating the feasibility of increasing assessed contributions, and flexible, un-earmarked funds for @WHO. https://bit.ly/3CDoGEX #WHASS
• 🚨Without BOLD action today to strengthen @WHO in its work in health emergencies and pandemic preparedness, a leadership vacuum may emerge, leaving other actors to design #globalhealth security solutions that may be less inclusive, transparent, and equitable than WHO. #WHASS

GHC Delegation

We encourage you to follow all GHC delegates on Twitter! Below are the organizational handles along with individual delegates with Twitter accounts.

• Please customize this tweet: I'm excited to be a @GlobalHealthOrg delegate at #WHASS & to be part of a diverse delegation of 30 members from 6 countries around the 🌍 to advocate for #globalhealth and work to promote #HealthForAll with @WHO & @DrTedros. #WHASS

Twitter Handles: Organizational Members & Delegates

• Global Health Council: @GlobalHealthOrg; @kkalkstein
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network: @NCCN
• Conservation International: @conservationdoc, @ConservationOrg
• Global Health Technologies Coalition: @GHTCoalition; @JBayNishi, @Phil_kenol88
• United States Pharmacopeia: @USPharmacopeia, @mikeschmitzdc
• Nuclear Threat Initiative: @NTI_WMD
• The Task Force for Global Health: @TFGH
• EMPHNET: @EMPHNET
• United Nations Foundation: @unfoundation, @katesdodson
• Global Health Advocacy Incubator: @IncubatorGHAI
• Pandemic Action Network: @PandemicAction
• International Association for Dental Research: @IADR
• WaterAid America: @wateraidamerica
• NCD Alliance: @ncdalliance
• Management Sciences for Health: @MSHHealthImpact, @MSHACTS
• Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria: @theglobalfight
• Project C.U.R.E.: @projectcure
• Sabin Vaccine Institute: @sabinvaccine, @blaserv
• Women in Global Health: @womeninGH; @RoopaDhatt
• Advancing Synergy: @Adv_Synergy, @drmychelle
• What to Expect Project: @WTE_Project
• Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation: @EGPAF
• Living Goods: @Living_Goods
• Partners in Health: @PIH, @cate_oswald, @AE_yamin
• American Academy of Pediatrics: @AAPGlobalHealth; @MandySlutsker