Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, at the opening of the 79th World Health Assembly at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, 18 May 2026. (Keystone/Salvatore Di Nolfi)

⚕️WHO reaffirms its mission amid mounting global health threats. The 79th World Health Assembly opened on Monday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva in a difficult climate of austerity. Even without the United States and Argentina, member states nevertheless reaffirmex their commitment to an indispensable multilateral organisation.

⛔WHO members reject proposal to invite Taiwan to participate in annual assembly. China spoke against the initiative presented on Monday before health delegates, arguing that the self-governing island is part of its territory. Beijing has blocked Taipei’s participation in the WHA since 2017.

🎯Zero for 52: WHO warns world set to miss every global health target by 2030. From eliminating malaria to childhood vaccination coverage, progress on global health goals has slowed, stalled or reversed across virtually every measure since 2015, according to the 2026 edition of the WHO’s World Health Statistics report.

🦠Infectious diseases such as hantavirus and Ebola becoming more frequent and damaging, say experts. A report from an independent monitoring board established by the WHO and the World Bank warned that investments in preparedness are failing to keep up with pandemic risk and that the world “is not substantially safer” from the impact of public health emergencies.

🌎WHO-backed commission urges climate emergency declaration. The Call to Action report by the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health, published Sunday, called on WHO member states to formally declare climate change a “public health emergency of international concern”, arguing that escalating climate impacts pose systemic risks to health, security and economic stability.

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, at the inauguration of "The Lost Screen Memorial" in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, 17 May, 2026. (Keystone/Cyril Zingaro)

The Duchess of Sussex pays tribute in Geneva to children lost to online violence against children. Meghan joined Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva at the Place des Nations on Sunday evening for the opening of an exhibition commemorating children who have died as a result of online violence and digital harm.

The Lost Screen Memorial, co-hosted by the WHO and the Duke and Duchess’s charitable foundation, Archewell Philanthropies, consists of 50 illuminated boxes, each showing the mobile phone lockscreen of a victim to online abuses, such as cyberbullying or sextortion. Speaking at the ceremony, on the eve of the World Health Assembly, the Duchess said online safety of children was a public health issue and called on global health leaders to act to ensure stronger safeguards. “Children must be safe by design, not safe by chance,” she said.