Minister of Health Zuzana Dolinková informed the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the opposition in which she rejected the Amendment to the International Health Regulations (IHR) on behalf of the Slovak Republic, approved in May 2022. This amendment reduced the period for individual governments to reject future amendments to the IHR or make reservations to them, from 18 months to 10 months.
In view of the current state of the negotiations on updating the IHR and the number of proposals for changes from the Contracting States, the Slovak Republic has reserved itself the right to reject the IHR Amendment, which refers to the reduction of the deadline for commenting on the IHR. In the opinion of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, the comments of individual states require further further development as well as a longer implementation period in order to ensure a thorough readiness of the Contracting States for future potential threats to public health of international importance.
The purpose of the Minister's letter is in particular to ensure compliance of the revision of the IHR with the constitutional order of the Slovak Republic. Like the IHR Revision Commission, the newly formed government of the Slovak Republic is concerned that several proposals for the revision of the IHR, if approved as originally submitted by the Member States, would thus not respond to the preparedness of the States and their health systems for health emergencies.
One of the key tasks of the state is to stop the spread of disinformation and to fight it at all levels. In recent years, the Ministry of Health has received a number of suggestions from citizens who have believed false information on ongoing negotiations to update international health regulations. We would like to assure the concerned Slovaks that no WHO documents, weak position of Slovakia as a sovereign state or even restrictive constitutional rights of Slovak citizens currently exist, nor do such representatives of the health department plan to accept or in any way support, said Minister for Health Zuzana Dolinková.

Despite the rejection of the amendment to shorten the comment period, the Slovak Republic will continue to support the update of the IHR. The proposed changes to be adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2024 will, as has so far been the subject of internal control to ensure consistency with the national context. During the negotiations, the Slovak Republic has repeatedly stressed and continues to stress the need for the practical dimension and scientific nature of the proposals submitted.
International health regulations (IHR or ang. The International Health Regulations (IHR) are currently undergoing revision, i.e. they are being modified to update some of the information and procedures contained therein. They were last revised in 2005 and, given the lack of coordination at international level during the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the weak readiness of states to face cross-border health threats, updating them is essential. Ministry of Health SR a Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic (ÚVZ) in cooperation with other interested government authorities participate in the comments of these regulations in order to protect the health and life of Slovak citizens without in any way limiting their legal and constitutional certainty.