Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend / The 60th session of the World Healthcare Assembly (WHA) was opened in Geneva on May 14.
About 2,000 delegates from 193 countries arrived in Geneva to participate in the conference. The general trends of the activities of the World Health Organization (WHO) will be discussed and resolutions on global issues will be adopted. In particular, the WHA will consider international co-operation to prevent bird flu, fight against tuberculosis and malaria including the proposal to establish a Fight against Malaria Day as well as preventative measures against infectious diseases.
The WHO will once again view the issue on liquidation of smallpox, which was eradicatedin 1980. Samples of the living smallpox virus are kept in a minority number of places in the world, Atlanta, US and the Russian State Scientific Centre of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo city of Novosibirsk region.
The WHA is the supreme body of the WHO. The organization defines WHO's main trends of activity and controls its finances. Azerbaijan is represented in the WHA by the Health Minister, Ogtay Shiraliyev, who is the vice president of the WHO's Executive Committee.
The event will be completed on 23 May.