International Health Regulations

REVISION OF THE INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS The Fifty-eighth World Health Assembly, Having considered the draft revised International Health Regulations1;Having regard to articles 2(k), 21(a) and 22 of the Constitution of WHO; Recalling references to the need for revising and updating the International Health Regulations in resolutions WHA48.7 on revision and updating of the International Health Regulations, WHA54.14 on global health security: epidemic alert and response, WHA55.16 on global public health response to natural occurrence, accidental release or deliberate use of biological and chemical agents or radionuclear material that affect health, WHA56.28 on revision of the International Health Regulations, and WHA56.29 on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), with a view to responding to the need to ensure global public health; Welcoming resolution 58/3 of the United Nations General Assembly on enhancing capacity building in global public health, which underscores the importance of the International Health Regulations and urges that high priority should be given to their revision; Affirming the continuing importance of WHO’s role in global outbreak alert and response to public health events, in accordance with its mandate; Underscoring the continued importance of the International Health Regulations as the key global instrument for protection against the international spread of disease; Commending the successful conclusion of the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Revision of the International Health Regulations, 1. ADOPTS the revised International Health Regulations attached to this resolution, to be referred to as the “International Health Regulations (2005)”; 2. CALLS UPON Member States and the Director-General to implement fully the International Health Regulations (2005), in accordance with the purpose and scope set out in Article 2 and the principles embodied in Article 3; 3. DECIDES, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of Article 54 of the International Health Regulations (2005), that States Parties and the Director-General shall submit their first report to the Sixty-first World Health Assembly, and that the Health Assembly shall on that occasion consider the schedule for the submission of further such reports and the first review on the functioning of the Regulations pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 54; 4. FURTHER DECIDES that, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of Article 14 of the International Health Regulations (2005), the other competent intergovernmental organizations or international bodies with which WHO is expected to cooperate and coordinate its activities, as appropriate, include the following: United Nations, International Labour Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Maritime Organization, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red