WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC BUREAU REGIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL COMMITTEE Fifty-first session Manila 18–22 September 2000 Provisional agenda item 18
WPR/RC51/14 22 June 2000 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
METHOD OF WORK OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
There will be a number of changes to the method of work of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific at its fifty-first session. In resolution WPR/RC50.R10, the Regional Committee asked the Regional Director to establish a working group on reform of the method of work of the Committee. This working group met at the Regional Office in January 2000 and its recommendations are attached as an annex to this paper. This paper lists the changes that will be made at the fifty-first session as a result of the working group’s recommendations. The Regional Committee is invited to comment on the changes to its method of work and, if necessary, to make suggestions for further improvements to sessions of the Committee.
WPR/RC51/14 page 2
1. INTRODUCTION 1
In his document WHO in the Western Pacific Region: A framework for action, the Regional Director expressed a desire to make the annual sessions of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific more productive and meaningful. As part of this process, a ministerial round table was held at the fiftieth session of the Regional Committee. Both the round table and the Regional Director’s proposal to reform sessions of the Regional Committee were welcomed by the Committee, which adopted a resolution requesting the Regional Director to make ministerial round tables a regular agenda item and to “make further reforms to the method of work of the Regional Committee to make the meetings less formal and more interactive”.2 The Committee also asked the Regional Director to establish a working group to make recommendations on reform of sessions of the Regional Committee and to circulate the findings of this group to Members of the Regional Committee before its fifty-first session.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON REFORM OF SESSIONS OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
A Working Group on Reform of Sessions of the Regional Committee met at the Regional Office on 13 and 14 January 2000. The working group comprised representatives from six countries (Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Viet Nam), selected to represent a crosssection of the countries and areas of the Western Pacific Region. Fiji was also invited, but its representative was unable to attend. The Working Group’s recommendations were then circulated to all Members of the Regional Committee for their comments. The recommendations are attached as an Annex.
1 2
Document WPR/RC50/2, endorsed by the Regional Committee in resolution WPR/RC50.R3. Resolution WPR/RC50.R9.
WPR/RC51/14 page 3
3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP
At its fiftieth session, the Regional Committee authorized the Regional Director to implement the recommendations of the working group at the fifty-first session of the Regional Committee. The following reforms will therefore be made to the documentation and to the conduct of the session at the fifty-first session: 1. The provisional agenda has been arranged under headings to lend a clearer sense of direction to proceedings. 2. An attempt has been made to limit the number of documents presented to the Regional Committee by covering some topics in the report of the Regional Director, The Work of WHO in the Western Pacific Region. For example, in response to the Regional Committee’s request at its forty-ninth session for a report on activities to mark the International Year of Older Persons, these activities have been tabulated and included in The Work of WHO in the Western Pacific Region: 1 July 1999–30 June 2000 (pp. 67–69). 3. The working documents for individual agenda items at the fifty-first session have been prepared in accordance with the working group’s suggestion that they should be forwardlooking and should identify issues and actions proposed. In general, previous activities have been reported in The Work of WHO in the Western Pacific Region: 1 July 1999–30 June 2000. 4. The proposed programme budget for 2002–2003 that has been prepared for discussion at the fifty-first session is not only a financial document but contains the Organization’s policy goals for each of the 17 focuses that guide WHO’s work in the Region. 5. Working documents for the fifty-first session were added to the Regional Office website as soon as they were completed. 6. The topic for the ministerial round table at the fifty-first session is “Health and poverty”, in accordance with the working group’s suggestion that topics for the round table should be high
WPR/RC51/14 page 4
level policy issues. The keynote speaker has been invited to speak on a related topic, thus establishing the linkage between the two agenda items also recommended by the working group. 7. 8. A prominent figure from the Region has been invited to present a keynote address. Representatives will have an opportunity to discuss WHO’s global policy with the DirectorGeneral following her address. 9. In order to identify the main areas of concern, Member States will be invited to submit comments on the report of the Regional Director, The Work of WHO in the Western Pacific Region, in advance of the session. These comments will then be collated and distributed to representatives on their arrival at the session. 10. The secretariat and the Chairperson will work together to try to limit the number of
congratulations offered to the Regional Director and Office Bearers by speakers. 11. 12. 13. More use will be made of audiovisual aids during the session. Resolutions will be adopted only for important policy matters or when action is required. The secretariat will organize a poster session to facilitate interchange between representatives and technical staff in association with the session.
4. FUTURE
Reform is a dynamic process. The changes at the fifty-first session should be seen as the start rather than the end of an attempt to ensure that the annual sessions of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific are relevant, productive, outcome-oriented and participatory The Regional Committee is invited to comment on the changes to its method of work and, if necessary, to make suggestions for further improvements to sessions of the Committee.
WPR/RC51/14 page 5 ANNEX
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON REFORM OF SESSIONS OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
At its fiftieth session, the Regional Committee expressed a desire to make future sessions of the Committee less formal and more interactive. It therefore adopted a resolution requesting the Regional Director to establish a working group to make recommendations in this regard (WPR/RC50.R9). The working group comprised representatives from six countries (Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Viet Nam), selected to represent a crosssection of the countries and areas of the Western Pacific Region. The working group met on 13 and 14 January at the Regional Office in Manila. Its recommendations are contained in this document, which will be circulated to all the Members of the Regional Committee for comment. The Regional Director will then assess the recommendations in light of comments made by the Members, with a view to implementing as many of the recommendations as possible at the fifty-first session of the Committee in September 2000 and succeeding sessions, if appropriate. In addition to making future sessions less formal and more interactive, the working group’ s recommendations have been made with the additional aims of making the sessions more productive, interesting and streamlined. They do not have any significant financial implications.
WPR/RC51/14 page 6 Annex 1. Agenda The agenda for sessions of the Regional Committee should be arranged under headings to lend a clearer sense of direction to the proceedings. The working group’s proposed headings are attached as an appendix. The rest of this section (1. Agenda) is arranged under these headings.
1.1
Opening and procedural matters (to include addresses by the retiring and incoming
Chairpersons, election of new officers and adoption of the agenda) In order to streamline the business of the Committee, the secretariat should work with the Chairman to limit the number of congratulations offered to the Regional Director and Office Bearers by speakers. One option would be for the first speaker from the floor to congratulate the Regional Director on the documentation and the office bearers on their appointment on behalf of the whole Committee, leaving subsequent speakers to address more substantive issues. 1.2 Keynote addresses
Address by the Director-General Her address to the Regional Committee is a unique opportunity for dialogue between the Director-General and Members of the Committee. The Director-General should be encouraged to continue her current practice of inviting questions on her address. She should also be invited to attend as much of the session as her schedule allows. Again, to limit the number of
congratulations, it is proposed that the Chairman should congratulate the Director-General on behalf of the Regional Committee. Address by the Regional Director The Regional Director may sometimes wish to address the Committee as he did at the fiftieth session. Although such an address may not be necessary every year, this facility should be available to the Regional Director, should he require it.
WPR/RC51/14 page 7 Annex Address by an invited speaker Consideration should be given to inviting a prominent figure from the Region (not necessarily from the health sector) to address the Regional Committee. The possibility of linking the address to the round table discussion could also be explored (see below). 1.3 Review of the work of WHO (to include the Report of the Regional Director and reports on budget performance) Report of the Regional Director The working group appreciated the efforts that had been made to improve the 1998— 1999 Report of the Regional Director and encouraged the Regional Director to continue to build on these improvements. The relationship of the Report to the documentation provided for individual agenda items needs to be examined. Many items which are currently discussed under individual agenda items could be incorporated into the Report (e.g. the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, which the Committee examines every two years). Member States should be invited to send comments on the Report to the Regional Director, identifying matters of concern or raising questions. These comments should then be collated and edited by the secretariat and distributed to Representatives on their arrival at the session. This would allow the Chairman of the session to identify the main issues of concern to countries and to steer discussions accordingly. It would also allow the secretariat to prepare responses to be delivered at the session. One of the main advantages of this proposal is that it would contribute to the Regional Committee’s stated aim of making the sessions more interactive; instead of simply responding to documents prepared by the secretariat, countries would now also be able to respond to comments made by other countries. It should, however, be stressed that discussion at the session would not be limited to issues contained in this document. The secretariat needs to ensure that achievements and failures in implementing previous resolutions of the Committee are more clearly identified in the report, possibly by presenting these in a tabular form.
WPR/RC51/14 page 8 Annex Programme Budget: Report on Performance The final and interim reports on budget performance should explain what was achieved by the expenditure, instead of concentrating on explaining financial implementation, as in the past. Key performance indicators are being developed at the global level and these should be included in the report as they become available. Comparisons with previous budgets should also be included. As a part of this process, there should be reports by the secretariat, which may include reports by theme directors and other staff, on the performance of the themes, including identifying achievements, shortcomings and directions for the future. 1.4 Policies, programmes and directions for the future (to include the proposed programme
budget as well as agenda items on policies and programmes) Topics covered under this heading should focus on future directions and subjects of importance. Regional priorities should be reflected in the items selected for discussion in addition to topics mandated by Regional Committee or World Health Assembly resolutions and topics proposed by Member States. The working documents for these agenda items should be forward-looking and should identify issues and actions proposed, as well as action expected from the Regional Committee. Reports which concentrate on previous activities should usually be published in the Regional Director’s Report. In line with the Director-General’s expressed wish for one WHO, global initiatives, including consideration of the resolutions of the World Health Assembly and the Executive Board, should be included under this heading. Proposed Programme Budget When presenting the proposed programme budget, every effort should be made to ensure that the document is not only a financial document but that the Organization’s policy goals for the future are stressed, taking into account resolution WPR/RC50.R3 on reform in the Western Pacific Region.
WPR/RC51/14 page 9 Annex 1.5 Ministerial round table (on a subject of contemporary significance for the Region) The working group acknowledged that the round table discussion at the fiftieth session had been very successful. It pointed out that one important factor had been the skill of the moderator and encouraged the Regional Director to continue to appoint moderators of a similar calibre for future round tables. At the fifty-first session there should be one round table (as at the fiftieth session). However, the possibility of expanding the number of round tables should be kept under review. As at the fiftieth session, when Ministers of Health are unavailable, they may appoint alternates to participate on their behalf. To engage the interest and support of Ministers of Health, subjects selected for the round table should be high level policy issues rather than technical issues. Although the working group recognized that proposing topics was not part of its brief, the following subjects were raised as being appropriate for the political and policy nature of such round tables: the respective roles of the government and the market in public health and the appropriate mix of public and private participation in the health sector; working with partners; and ways of ensuring that governments allocate a greater share of the national budget to health. Consideration should be given to linking addresses given by invited speakers to ministerial round tables. 1.6 Elections and nominations (to the Sub-Committee of the Regional Committee on Programmes
and Technical Cooperation and committees of various global programmes) The current practice of nominating countries to serve on the committees of various global programmes should continue. 1.7 Other matters (to include method of work of the Regional Committee, reports of the SubCommittee of the Regional Committee on Programmes and Technical Cooperation, time and place of future sessions, closure of the session and any other matters not covered under the previous headings).
WPR/RC51/14 page 10 Annex The working group acknowledged that the Sub-Committee would continue to have an important role in examining detailed policy matters referred to the Regional Committee by the World Health Assembly and in performing other specific tasks given to it by the Regional Committee. 2. 2.1 Conduct of the sessions Presentation of agenda items The secretariat should make more use of audiovisual aids in responding to questions raised. However, these should, in the main, be restricted to tables, graphs, maps and itemised points. Ways of making audiovisual aids available to Representatives and of presenting audiovisual material in languages other than English should also be explored. 2.2 Resolutions The number of resolutions should be reduced and an attempt made to adopt resolutions only on important policy matters or when action is required. 2.3 Discussion Members should be reminded by the chairman to address the issues identified by the secretariat in the working paper as far as is possible. 2.4 Use of languages including interpretation Current procedures should continue and countries should continue to be able to address the Committee in their own language as described in Rule 23 of the Rules of Procedure. 3. 3.1 Time and place of the session Duration
While the working group acknowledged that its recommendations might have the effect of reducing the length of the Committee, it did not feel that this was one of their main objectives. The group did not feel that it would be desirable to prescribe an ideal length for sessions of the Committee. The emphasis of its recommendations was on the quality rather than the length of the sessions. The
WPR/RC51/14 page 11 Annex possibility of limiting the duration of the session if that would be consistent with the Regional Committee’s objectives should be kept under review. 3.2 Place Current arrangements with regard to the venue of sessions should continue, i.e. sessions should alternate between the Regional Office and Member States willing to host the Committee. 4 4.1 Work of the secretariat and office bearers Documentation The secretariat should continue to endeavour to provide relevant documentation in as timely a manner as possible. Although one dispatch of documents is to be preferred over several dispatches, documents should be added to the website as soon as they have been finalized. An attempt should be made to reduce the amount of text in documents in favour of more visual presentations such as graphs, maps, etc. 4.2 Office bearers The Chairman should be encouraged to steer discussions towards critical issues which should be identified in the working documents. The Chairman should be alerted to Rule 11 (which describes his or her role during the session) and Rule 32 (which authorizes representatives to move the closure of the debate on an item) of the Rules of Procedure of the Regional Committee. 4.3 Briefings Briefings by WHO Representatives were felt to be valuable, both for ministers and government staff attending the session and for staff preparing briefings. Such briefings should be provided as early as possible.
WPR/RC51/14 page 12 Annex 5. 5.1 Activities outside the session Meetings with technical staff The secretariat should explore ways of facilitating interchange between representatives and technical staff in association with the session. 5.2 Other organizations In line with the Regional Director’s expressed wish to involve partner agencies in WHO’s work, consideration should be given to inviting other organizations to make presentations at the session. NGOs should be offered the facility of setting up small “poster sessions” in the foyer outside the hall used for the plenary sessions. 5.3 Demonstrations Consideration should be given to arranging demonstrations of new technology in association with sessions of the Committee. Telehealth was one subject that would be of interest to Member States.
WPR/RC51/14 page 13 APPENDIX
PROPOSED HEADINGS FOR THE AGENDAS OF FUTURE SESSIONS OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE
It is proposed that the agendas of future sessions of the Regional Committee should be arranged under the following headings: Opening and procedural matters To include addresses by the retiring and incoming Chairpersons, election of new officers and adoption of the agenda. Keynote addresses To include the Director-General’s address (every session) and addresses by the Regional Director and invited speakers (selected sessions). Review of the work of WHO To include the Report of the Regional Director and reports on budget performance. Policies, programmes and directions for the future To include the proposed programme budget as well as such matters as eradication of poliomyelitis, sexually transmitted infections, HIV infection and AIDS and tuberculosis prevention and control. In line with moves to coordinate the work of WHO in the Region with that carried out globally, regional implications of resolutions and decisions of the World Health Assembly and the Executive Board should also be examined under this headings. In all the items considered under this heading, the emphasis should be on future strategies and plans rather than on reporting past activities. Ministerial round table On a subject of contemporary significance for the Region.
WPR/RC51/3 page 14 Appendix Elections and nominations To the Sub-Committee of the Regional Committee on Programmes and Technical Cooperation and committees of various global programmes. Other matters To include method of work of the Regional Committee, reports of the Sub-Committee of the Regional Committee on Programmes and Technical Cooperation, time and place of subsequent sessions, closure of the session and any other matters not covered under the previous headings.