Human resources: annual report: report of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board to the Seventy-first World Health Assembly

SEVENTY-FIRST WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY A71/44 Provisional agenda item 17.1 21 May 2018 Human resources: annual report Report of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board to the Seventy-first World Health Assembly 1. The Committee considered the annual report on human resources1 and expressed appreciation, in particular, for the improvement in gender balance in respect of staff in the professional and higher categories. At the same time, it encouraged the Secretariat to continue its efforts to improve geographical diversity in WHO’s staffing, while stressing the need to ensure a transparent recruitment process, based on merit. 2. With regard to WHO’s policy on mobility, comments focused on the incentives that can be offered to staff to move to a different duty station and on inter-agency mobility. 3. The Committee congratulated the Secretariat and welcomed the various measures being put in place to enhance the internship programme and increase the number of interns from developing countries, including health insurance coverage and in-kind support. The Secretariat underlined the Director-General’s strong and unwavering support for the WHO internship programme. 4. Lastly, the Committee welcomed the progress update on the work of the internal justice system and asked the Secretariat to take note of decisions of the ILO Administrative Tribunal to ensure that its future actions benefited from the lessons learned. RECOMMENDATION TO THE HEALTH ASSEMBLY 5. The Committee, on behalf of the Executive Board, recommended that the Health Assembly note the annual report on human resources. = = = 1 Document A71/35.