Minister of Health Adel Adawi will lead a high-ranking delegation from the ministry of health to the World Health Organization (WTO)'s 68th General Assembly meeting, due to be held on May 18-26 in Geneva.

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.

The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed program budget. The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.

The assembly discusses many health challenges, including detecting emerging, new diseases, combating those which have been with us for decades, and the risks linked to unhealthy diet.

The World Health Assembly is the forum for countries to decide on health priorities, and to give direction on how these can be addressed," said Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of the WHO at a briefing with journalists today. "All of our health work must ultimately serve to strengthen health systems. That is the way countries can sustain progress in public health.