Today marks the opening session of the WHO’s World Health Assembly, the 63rd of its kind. As the decision-making body of the WHO, the assembly meets annually to convene the health ministers of the 193 member states, approve the budget and appoint the Director General. Top of the agenda this year is H1N1, which has been the cause of nearly 18,000 deaths; alcohol and its abuse, as well as progress on the Millennium Development Goals, are also prominent on the agenda. Some pre-Assembly controversy was stirred in South Africa when health minister Aaron Motsoaledi made a statement in Cape Town about proposing a global ban on formula feeding. A parallel initiative, dubbed the World Open Health Assembly, is making the proceedings open to the public via Twitter.
