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Event Body Meeting

79th World Health Assembly

18 May 2026 – 23 May 2026

Venue: WHO Headquarters

Organization: World Health Organization

Health and Environment

SDG3

The Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly will be held from 18 to 23 May 2026 in Geneva.

About the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA79)

The Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly — the decision-making body of the World Health Organization that meets annually in Geneva — starts on 18 May 2026, bringing together delegations from WHO Member States to set global health policy and advance the Organization’s strategic priorities, and is expected to conclude on 23 May 2026. The Assembly takes place while the recently released World Health Statistics 2026 report found that global progress towards the health and health-related SDGs remains uneven and too slow to meet the 2030 targets, with fewer than 5 years remaining. Many drivers of ill health, including environmental risks, are not improving fast enough. Air pollution contributed to an estimated 6.6 million deaths worldwide in 2021, while inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene contributed to 1.4 million deaths in 2019. → Follow the discussions through the livestream.

With a packed agenda to advance action on key health issues, the environmental dimension will be discussed in items related to the WHO Pandemic Agreement, antimicrobial resistance, the health of Indigenous Peoples, and climate and health, building on the momentum of WHA78, 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 Programme of Work (GPW14, 2025–2028). During WHA79, WHO is planning to launch the Global plan for communications, advocacy and partnerships for climate change and health, designed to support the WHA77 resolution and sustain momentum through COP31 and beyond.

WHA79 Official Website

GEN @ Sidelines of WHA79

As part of the Health Diplomacy House, hosted on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly, this Geneva Environment Network will a session”Plastics & Health: What We’re Not Talking About” that will highlight why it is essential to communicate more clearly, consistently, and effectively about the health impacts of plastic pollution, and why health must be placed at the centre of global action on plastics. It will feature a series of short lightning talks and is organized in the framework of the Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Dialogues.

Environment @ WHA79

With the environment high on the agenda, various official WHA79 side events and parallel events will tackle environmental issues:

18 May 2026

19 May 2026

20 May 2026

21 May 2026

  • WHA Official Side Event | Advancing Human Rights and Public Health through the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate and Health | Organized by Vanuatu, United Nations University, Medicus Mundi International, Geneva Global Health Hub, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique, Fiji and Marshall Islands | 13:00-14:20 CEST | Palais des Nations, Room XI
  • Forging alliances post Santa Marta: Engaging health actors in fossil fuel incentive reform | Organized by Global Climate and Health Alliance, IISD, Clean Air Fund | 12:30 – 14:30 CEST | Restaurant Vieux-Bois | By invitation-only – Request to join: Jess.Beagley@climateandhealthalliance.org
  • WHA Official Side Event | NextGen x NowGen: Futureproofing Health in the Climate Era | Organized by Slovenia, WHO Youth Council, International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), Gain,
    International Pharmaceutical Students’s Federation (IPSF) Bertelsmann Stiftung| 18:00-19:30 CEST | WHO Headquarters, Salle A
  • WHA Official Side Event| Feeding the world while curbing antimicrobial resistance – challenges and opportunities for collaborative One Health action | Four Paws, Ontario Veterinary College, AMR Partnership Platform, Brazil, Nigeria, Sweden | 18:00-19:30 CEST | WHO Headquarters, Salle C
  • Reception: Climate Change and Health: Looking Ahead to COP31 | Peru, Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the co-sponsorship of Vanuatu and France and co-organized with the Global Climate Health Alliance | 19:00 – 20:30 CEST | The reception is open to PR level (+1). Due to limited capacity of the room, please RSVP by sending an email to valiaga@onuperuginebra.ch 

22 May 2026

  • WHA79 Official Side Event | Securing the Future: Creating a Sustainable and Equitable Ecosystem for Antimicrobial Innovation | Organized by International Pharmaceutical Students Federation, Alliance for Health Promotion, Japan, Japan Institute for Health Security, Howard Dalton Centre, University of Warwick| 13:00 – 14:20 CEST | WHO Headquarters, Salle A
  • WHA79 Official Side Event | The Lancet MedZero: Carbon Analytics for Health Care – From Measurement to Implementation at Scale | 13:00 – 12:20 CEST | The Lancet, Philippines, University of Singapore, Thailand, UK, MS | Palais des Nations, Room V

On the Sidelines of WHA79

Every year on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, actors from Geneva and beyond organize multiple events, gatherings and meetings on global health issues.

Geneva Health Forum

The Geneva Health Forum will organize nine events to amplify the voices of scientists and civil society actors on key global health priorities, including those related to the environment:

Geneva Health Week

Each year during the World Health Assembly (WHA), the International Geneva Global Health Platform hosts a series of side events and discussions around critical global health issues, raising awareness among member states attending WHA meetings. During the Geneva Health Week, the Platform provides important exposure for a wide range of global health actors, enhancing collaborations and partnerships for future discussions and events. → Geneva Health Week 2026

Health Diplomacy House

The Health Diplomacy House, convened by the Health Diplomacy Alliance on 21 May 2026,  is an informal, practical space where organizations convene sessions, hold discussions, and work on concrete health policy issues. Located in the historic Rothschild buildings, formerly the Ancien Hôpital Ophtalmologique (1874–1978), it offers a simple and functional setting for focused exchange. As part of the Predictable Uncertainty series, it brings together policymakers, diplomats, academia, youth, civil society, philanthropic actors, the private sector, and patient groups. The programme includes multiple sessions and dialogues covering One Health, antimicrobial resistance, women’s leadership, health economics, pandemic preparedness, climate and health, health financing, and global health governance and reform.

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