Jiyeongmi Commissioner and WHO Director-General Hold Bilateral Talks on Health Workforce Exchange

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (left), and Ji Young-mi, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency
[Photo by Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency]

Jiyoungmi, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), held a bilateral meeting with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the 25th during the 76th World Health Assembly, discussing the need to strengthen personnel exchanges in the health sector, the KDCA announced on the 31st.

On the same day, Commissioner Ji also had a bilateral meeting with Michael Ryan, WHO Executive Director for Health Emergencies, where they mentioned cooperation measures between WHO and the Republic of Korea government for responding to emerging infectious diseases.

Specifically, Commissioner Ji requested ▲designation of Korean institutions as WHO Crisis Response Cooperation Centers ▲expansion of Korean participation in the WHO Technical Advisory Group. In response, WHO expressed high expectations for the KDCA's expertise in public health and stated that Korea's pandemic response experience would be greatly helpful in the ongoing WHO discussions on preparedness and resilience against new health threats.

Commissioner Ji also held a bilateral meeting with Chik? Ihekeazu, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Emergency Information. WHO reportedly requested KDCA's support for the development of the Berlin Hub Epidemiological Information Open Source (EIOS) platform and proposed that Korea become a member of the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN).

Concluding her trip to the World Health Assembly, Commissioner Ji said, “Going forward, our country must lead international health agendas and further strengthen cooperation,” adding, “The government will also do its best to enhance international health work so that more Korean experts can advance into international organizations.”

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