In May 2022, the World Health Assembly decided to continue the Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies, with a revised mandate including a revised name (the “Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005)” or WGIHR) to work exclusively on consideration of proposed targeted amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), consistent with decision EB150(3) (2022) on Strengthening the International Health Regulations (2005). The first meeting of the WGIHR took place from 14 to 16 November 2022 and discussed organizational and procedural matters. More information can be found on the governing bodies section of the WHO website.
The second meeting of the WGIHR (WGIHR2) will take place from 20 to 24 February 2023. Find here relevant documentation. At this meeting, the WGIHR will begin consideration of the more than 300 proposed amendments to the IHR, related to 33 of the 66 articles of the IHR, and 5 of their annexes, as well as 6 newly proposed articles and 2 new annexes. The full set of proposed amendments are available on the WGIHR website in all 6 WHO official languages (document A/WGIHR/2/6), along with an article-by-article compilation (document A/WGIHR/2/7).
To support their work, the WGIHR will be provided with the report of the Review Committee regarding amendments to the IHR, which was convened by the WHO Director-General pursuant to the provisions of the IHR and decision WHA75(9) of the Health Assembly (document A/WGIHR2/5).
The WGIHR will first agree on the proposed modalities of engagement for stakeholders in document A/WGIHR/2/3, and the proposed modalities for consideration of the proposed amendments in document A/WGIHR/2/8. The WGIRH will then begin consideration of the proposed amendments as part of a plenary meeting held in open session during a “first reading”. This “first reading” will be open to WHO Member States, Associate Members and regional economic integration organizations, as well as to relevant stakeholders (as agreed by the WGIHR). It is expected that the WGIHR will invite relevant stakeholders to provide their views on the proposed amendments to the IHR. The WGIHR will then continue its consideration of the proposed amendments in “drafting session”, with attendance limited to: WHO Member States, Associate Members, regional economic integration organizations; the Holy See, and Liechtenstein as States Parties to the IHR that are not Member States of WHO; and the Observer Delegation of Palestine.
Open sessions of the second WGIHR meeting will be webcast on the WHO website from this page and archived for later viewing. The report of the meeting will be discussed on the last day as part of an open session, which will be webcast, and subsequently posted on https://apps.who.int/gb/wgihr/e/e_wgihr-2.html.
Webcast