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Public health news from around the WHO European Region.
News highlights
November 2023
73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe draws to a close with a clear focus on resilience amid ongoing challenges and crises
30-10-2023
The 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC73), held on 24–26 October 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan, brought together the Region’s 53 Member States along with a range of health stakeholders, including civil society and, notably, youth representatives from across the Region. A year ago at the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, the Regional Director, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, noted that the Region was grappling with a “permacrisis” on multiple fronts, from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mpox (monkeypox) outbreak to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the re-emergence of polio and climate-related crises. A year later at RC73, amid increasing challenges including humanitarian emergencies in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, and the Caucasus, the Regional Director stressed the importance of resilience to ensure health systems and health partners could face and overcome the crises of this time and better anticipate those that lie ahead.
Tallinn Charter 15th Anniversary Health Systems Conference: Trust and transformation – resilient and sustainable health systems for the future
12 – 13 December 2023, Tallinn, Estonia
On 12–13 December 2023 WHO/Europe and the Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia will co-host a high-level health systems conference to commemorate 15 years of the Tallinn Charter: Health Systems for Health and Wealth. The principles agreed during previous Tallinn health systems conferences (2008, 2013 and 2018) are enduring, and this year’s event offers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges that countries face, while looking at how they can develop resilient, responsive and sustainable health systems needed in the 21st century.
PREPAREDNESS
The beating heart of our Region: WHO European Region calls on Member States to develop Preparedness 2.0
26-10-2023
CONFLICT IN ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Shock, grief and the challenge of healing: Israel’s health system responds to the October
attacks
23-10-2023
ARMENIA REFUGEE RESPONSE
WHO refugee response in Armenia
16-10-2023
COVID-19
Increasing Recognition, Research and Rehabilitation for Post COVID-19 Condition (long COVID)
WHO remains committed to learning more about long COVID and to finding ways to improve the medium- and long-term outcomes for people affected by it.
Partnering with the European Union to support deployment of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination
The EU and WHO/Europe together provide critical assistance to Member States of the WHO European Region to ensure local readiness for safe and effective vaccination campaigns against COVID-19
Publications and technical guidance
Publications, country and technical guidance for the COVID-19 outbreak
UKRAINE EMERGENCY
New, modular primary health-care clinics to serve frontline communities of Tsyrkuny and Hrakove
01-11-2023
New WHO assessment reveals resilience of Ukraine’s primary health-care system amid the war
12-10-2023
Ukraine emergency situation reports
TÜRKIYE AND SYRIA EARTHQUAKES
WHO supports rehabilitation and assistive technology after the Türkiye earthquake
07-11-2023
06-11-2023
The way we produce and consume food – through our food systems – is tightly interconnected with environment and health. Foods high in salt, added sugars and trans fats can harm our health and lead to early death. At the same time, the production of food products may contribute to soil pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and packaging waste. But there is a way to help understand the impact of food systems on the environment and health: WHO/Europe’s new tool for diet impact assessment (DIA) can help.
Newly adopted resolution is a tool for countries to tackle the health workforce crisis
30-10-2023
“Humans should be treated as humans, not as Germans, Syrians, Iraqis or Afghans”
26-10-2023
Back to the future: harnessing the power of primary health care to transform our health systems
24-10-2023
Unlocking the future of healthy ageing: The Lisbon Outcome Statement
21-10-2023
25-10-2023
The WHO European Region, my friends, is no longer the disaster-resilient region that we believed it was. Yes, we learned a lot of lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, from successfully controlling mpox and moving towards elimination, from swiftly controlling the polio outbreaks thanks to the political commitment of the governments of Tajikistan, Israel and Ukraine – but we just cannot let our guard go down. Many Member States have asked us to work towards resilience as an answer to the permacrisis. Resilience means bouncing back stronger from a crisis, and the programme of the Regional Committee fits very well into this vision, building upon the dual-track approach which I called for in Tel Aviv last year. I recognize 3 pillars of a resilient WHO European Region, which is the title of my annual address to you today: 1.) resilient governance 2.) resilient health systems, 3.) resilient people.
30-10-2023
Tajikistan is transforming its health system to accelerate progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). For the last two decades, the country has been undertaking significant reforms to shift towards a Primary Health Care (PHC) approach with a strong family medicine focus conducive to strengthening the health system to attain its objectives of 'health for all'. Read the full article.
Nature’s impact on human health: WHO Collaborating Centre examines the data
01-11-2023
Monitoring child health in Sweden using a regional database on student health
30-10-2023
Addressing the growing needs of Kazakhstan’s digital health workforce
20-10-2023
WHO-USAID project to end drug-resistant tuberculosis in Central Asia concludes
20-10-2023
EVENTS
Keeping safe from COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) this autumn and winter. Protecting lives. Strengthening health systems
29 September – 31 December 2023
Second WHO European Public Health Leadership Course: Enhancing competencies, embracing values and empowering evidence-based decisions to become public health leaders
13 – 24 November 2023, Bordeaux, France
28th annual meeting of the Regions for Health Network – “Health for all: addressing challenges, sharing experiences”
15 – 17 November 2023, Seville, Andalusia (Spain)
WHO Barcelona course on health financing for universal health coverage 2023
20 – 24 November 2023, Barcelona, Spain
Youth voices in alcohol policy: launch of the WHO–EU Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION) Youth Alcohol Network
22 – 23 November 2023, Copenhagen, Denmark
