TEHRAN – An Iranian delegation led by Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarqandi will participate in the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA), which is scheduled for May 18 to June 23 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The minister plans to deliver a speech and hold meetings with WHO officials and his counterparts from other countries, IRNA reported.

Following up on technical and specialized collaborations, expanding health diplomacy, and exploring ways to boost cooperation to improve health indicators are among the main objectives of the trip.

WHA79 is bringing together delegations from WHO Member States to set global health policy and advance the Organization’s strategic priorities.

It is built upon the momentum of last year’s 78th World Health Assembly, which adopted the Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health, an updated road map for an enhanced global response to the adverse health effects of air pollution, and the elevation of climate change as the first strategic objective of WHO’s Fourteenth General Program of Work.

This year’s Assembly theme is “Reshaping Global Health: A Shared Responsibility”. The key discussions cover Global Health Architecture Reform, Universal Health Coverage and Traditional Medicine, prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, antimicrobial resistance, health emergency preparedness and response, mental health and social connection, health, and climate change.

Strategic Roundtables bring together delegates, experts from WHO, partner agencies, and civil society to discuss current priorities and next solutions on vital issues for global public health.

The 79th WHA marks over six years since the WHO declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and a decade since the establishment of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

This Roundtable provides a timely opportunity to take stock of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and how they have been translated into broader institutional reforms and commitments across the WHO.

The Strategic Roundtable will examine how countries can strengthen integrated responses to NCDs and mental health conditions, which are increasingly shaped by shared social, commercial, environmental, and demographic factors.

The Roundtable aims to identify practical policy and financing solutions, reinforce political commitment, and promote more resilient, people-centred health systems that advance equity and universal health coverage.

Iran will rise stronger to serve global health

Despite the destruction of scientific centers in Iran by the US-Israeli aggression, the country will turn into a more influential player in the global arena, Zafarqandi said in April.

The bombardment of scientific centers would not deter the country from making scientific progress, IRNA quoted the official as saying.

“Attacking scientific centers like the Pasteur Institute of Iran makes our job harder,” Zafarqandi wrote in his X account on April 23.

“But the missile launchers don’t know: knowledge lives in the minds of our scientists! With this knowledge, we will rise stronger than ever to serve global health,” the official added.

According to Hossein Kermanpour, the deputy health minister, the United States and the Zionist regime jointly attacked global public health by launching strikes on the Pasteur Institute of Iran.

“Several facilities severely damaged or decimated by the US and Israeli bombardments are not merely national assets, but global heritage,” he wrote on his X account.

“These countries have attacked global public health by targeting institutions such as the Pasteur Institute of Iran – a key member of the Pasteur Network and a WHO Collaborating Centre.

The international community has a collective responsibility to rebuild it; we will rebuild it better than before, provided that the aggressors stop violating international law.”

MT/MG