Jiyeongmi, Director of KDCA, Attends 76th World Health Assembly as Government Chief Delegate

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 25th that Ji Young-mi, Commissioner of the KDCA, attended the 76th World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) held in Geneva, Switzerland from the 21st to the 30th as the government's chief representative.

This World Health Assembly is the first event held at full scale following the WHO's lifting of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), which had been maintained for 3 years and 4 months.

Commissioner Ji Young-mi

Commissioner Ji presented three directions to move forward in building a resilient public health system to overcome international health crises and return to normal life through her keynote speech as the chief representative.

① She emphasized ensuring the sustainability of international health governance led by the World Health Organization. ② She stated that although the time has come to transition COVID-19 to a long-term management system, the possibility of another pandemic still exists, so a new international health order must be established for future generations. ③ She said that in the event of an international health crisis, it is necessary to secure the capacity to prepare infectious disease response measures such as diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics.

Furthermore, Commissioner Ji held a bilateral meeting with Paul Kelly, Chief Medical Officer of Australia, at the World Health Assembly, signing a Korea-Australia Health and Welfare Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and discussing cooperation measures to enhance health security in the Western Pacific region.

Commissioner Ji also held a bilateral meeting with Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, and they agreed to mutually cooperate in the fields of genetic analysis and modeling possessed by the UK.

Commissioner Ji emphasized, “As the chief representative of our government, I will lead international health agendas so that our country can grow further as a global leading nation through this World Health Assembly, and strengthen international cooperation to prepare for the next pandemic.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.