Associate Professor Wakabayashi, as a member of the Japanese delegation, attended and spoke at the 44th Programme Budget and Management Committee (PBAC), the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA), and the 159th Executive Board (EB) meetings of the World Health Organization (WHO) held in Geneva, Switzerland.
Japan contributes to global health issues not only through its contributions to the WHA, which consists of 194 member states (as of May 2026, prior to the WHA*), but also as a member of the EB, which is comprised of 34 countries selected from WHO member states, and as a member of the PBAC, which is comprised of 12 countries selected from among the Executive Board members.
*This was one of the agenda items, but the formal approval of the withdrawal of the United States from the WHO resulted in a decrease in the number of WHO member states.

WHA79（18 to 23, May, 2026）
https://www.who.int/about/governance/world-health-assembly/seventy-ninth
PBAC44（13 to 15, May, 2026）
https://apps.who.int/gb/pbac/e/e_pbac44.html
EB159（25 , May, 2026）
https://www.who.int/about/governance/executive-board/159th-session