WHA76.17

Reaffirming that the objective of WHO is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health and its function, inter alia, is to serve as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work;

Reaffirming also that the Constitution of the World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, and declares that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition;

Recognizing that the health sector has a critical role and unique expertise to contribute to the sound management of chemicals and waste and protection from their harmful impacts on health and well-being;

Recognizing the importance of the One Health approach, including the work of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel, as well as the importance of WHO's role in this integrated, unifying approach through its collaboration with the other Quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP and WOAH) and their One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026);

Recalling WHO's longstanding recognition of the importance of sound chemicals management for human health, the key role of WHO in providing leadership and coordination on the human health aspects of the sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle, and the necessity of health sector participation in, and contribution to, these efforts as set out in: resolution WHA59.15 (2006) on the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management; resolution WHA63.25 (2010) on improvement of health through safe and environmentally sound waste management; resolution WHA63.26 (2010) on improvement of health through sound management of obsolete pesticides and other obsolete chemicals; resolution WHA67.11 (2014) on public health impacts of exposure to mercury and mercury compounds; resolution WHA68.8 (2015) on health and the environment: addressing the health impact of air pollution; and WHA69.4 (2016) on the role of the health sector in the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management towards the 2020 goal and beyond;

Recalling the Road map to enhance health sector engagement in the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management towards the 2020 goal and beyond and recognizing it as a tool to facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration and to identify concrete actions towards the achievement of the sound management of chemicals;

Recalling the WHO Global strategy on health, environment and climate change: the transformation needed to improve lives and well-being sustainably through healthy environments, which builds on: scaling up primary prevention; acting on determinants of health in all policies and sectors; strengthening health sector leadership, governance and coordination; building mechanisms for governance, and political and social support; generating the evidence base on risks and solutions; and monitoring progress;

Welcoming United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 5/8 (2022) on the science-policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution, and the invitation to WHO to play a role in the meetings of the ad-hoc open-ended working group to prepare proposals for the science-policy panel, as appropriate;

Further welcoming United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 5/14 (2022) entitled “End plastic pollution: towards an international legally binding instrument”;

Noting the adoption of Human Rights Council resolution 48/13 (2021) and General Assembly resolution 76/300 (2022) on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment;

Recognizing the work on the promotion of the sound management of chemicals and waste and the prevention of pollution by multilateral agreements and intergovernmental bodies, including the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals and the International Conference on Chemicals Management, and welcoming the continuation of their work to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution;

Recognizing that unsound management of chemicals and waste, as well as pollution, can cause significant adverse effects on human health and the environment, and that these are important factors in many noncommunicable diseases;

Recognizing further the linkages between the health impacts of chemicals, waste and pollution and other priority global health issues including inequity and vulnerability, maternal and child health, antimicrobial resistance and the meaningful achievement of universal health coverage, and that inaction on these linkages limits our collective capacity to strengthen our health systems, including in the context of health emergencies;

Noting that the market and non-market costs of inaction could be as high as 10% of global gross domestic product and that 2 million lives and 53 million disability-adjusted life years were lost in 2019 due to exposures to selected chemicals with nearly half of those deaths attributable to lead exposure and resulting cardiovascular disease and 138 000 deaths from pesticides involved in suicides representing 20% of all global suicides;

Recognizing that robust data are only available for a small number of potential chemical exposures, and that people are exposed to many more chemicals in their daily lives, and noting that children are particularly vulnerable to these exposures resulting in childhood death, illnesses and disability, particularly in developing countries;

Emphasizing the cross-cutting nature and relevance of the sound management of chemicals and waste and the prevention of pollution to many of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including for human health, gender equality, nutrition, sustainable consumption and production patterns, climate change, oceans and seas, clean air and water and biodiversity;

Aware that production, consumption and the use of chemicals and the amount of waste generated will grow substantially over the coming years, and expressing great concern with regard to the unsound management of chemicals and waste and its adverse effects on human, animal and plant health and the environment;

Welcoming the acknowledgement of the interlinkages between biodiversity and health and the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreeing that that framework is to be implemented by States Parties, with consideration of the One Health approach, among other holistic approaches that are based on science, mobilize multiple sectors, disciplines and communities to work together, and aim to sustainably optimize the health of people, animals and plants and the equilibrium of ecosystems based on scientific evidence and on risk assessments developed by relevant international organizations, and recalling decision 14/4 of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity which requested the Executive Secretary and the World Health Organization, as well as other partners, to continue the development of a draft global action plan to mainstream biodiversity and health linkages into national policies, strategies, programmes and accounts;

Aware of the extensive WHO research concerning the linkages between pollution and health risks, including on the disproportionate effect that pollution has on persons in vulnerable situations; 2

Noting that the negotiations for the new international instrument for the Strategic Approach and sound management of chemicals and waste beyond 2020 are in progress for consideration at the fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management, it is timely to highlight the importance of health sector engagement in efforts to address the impacts of chemicals, waste and pollution;

Concerned that the production, consumption and disposal of plastic products, including microplastics and related chemicals, which can be released to the environment, may potentially impact human, plant and animal health as well as the environment, directly or indirectly;

Recalling the adoption of resolution 5/7 (2022) on the sound management of chemicals and waste by the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, which requested the Executive Director, subject to availability of resources, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, to update the report entitled State of the science of endocrine disrupting chemicals 2012 and to present a full range of options for addressing asbestos contaminants in products and the environment;

Reaffirming the importance of the Rio Principles in addressing the sound management of chemicals for health;

Recognizing the importance of science and risk-based assessments to inform the development of policies and strategies concerning public health issues;

Convinced that the availability of policy-relevant scientific evidence and findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data on the impacts of and interactions between chemicals, waste and pollution could help countries design effective public health policies, as well as better abide by their international obligations, and that it could further the work of intergovernmental bodies, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders in this regard,