The 46th Plenary Meeting of the SEE Health Network under the subject “CROSS-SECTORAL AND ALL SOCIETY COLLABORATION FOR BETTER HEALTH SYSTEM RESILIENCE: IMPROVE VACCINE ACCEPTANCE BY ADDRESSING MISINFORMATION ” gathered in hybrid manner the National Health Coordinators and/or Alternates of the Member States to the SEEHN, directors of the SEEHN Regional Health Development Centers (RHDC), representatives from the partner countries and partner international organizations and guests, to promote discourse and cooperation among Member States and to strengthen public health partnerships in the Western Balkans and beyond. Furthermore, the 46th SEEHN Plenary is discussing the challenge of better health system resilience, emphasizing the urgent need for cross-sectoral and all society collaboration to improve vaccine acceptance by addressing misinformation, presenting country case studies and practices from the SEEHN member states and cross-cutting issues.
The two-day policy dialogue brought together representatives of all nine Member States of the SEE Health Network as well as senior officials from the partner international organizations and the diplomatic corps.
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The meetings focused on coordinating the preparation of the Fifth Ministerial Forum and identifying the most important issues in the Region to be addressed, while taking into account the pressing health needs faced by individual Member States, as well as defining how to move forward and develop innovative ways to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
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The outlined policy directions will foster a new vision, embedded in the Belgrade Pledge, to be endorsed at the soon-approaching Ministerial Forum, to accelerate the engagement of SEEHN to bridge the health gap with the EU.
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More specifically, the objectives were:
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• take stock of SEEHN’s actions under the Serbian presidency in the first half of 2022;
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• 21 years of SEEHN as a public health alliance that has contributed to peace and security in the region by building partnerships that promote health for all;
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• discuss ways to build resilient health systems by strengthening mental health and human health resources;
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• analyse the draft Belgrade Commitment and finalize preparations for the Fifth SEEHN Ministerial Forum to be held online later this month;
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• review the actions of SEEHN RHDCs, regional expertise, as well as the research meeting for informed policy development;
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• discuss ongoing SEEHN initiatives, partners, and new development avenues.
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The SEEHN uses this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia for the support in the organization of the meeting and express gratitude to all participants for their valuable contribution to the event’s success.
The South-Eastern Europe Health Network held its 43rd Plenary Meeting on the 25 November 2020. In light of the current regional situation, the meeting theme was “COVID-19 Projections Across the SEE Region for the Winter Season: Current Status and Perspectives“.
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The 43rd Plenary was hosted by the Romanian Presidency of the Network, with the Romanian Secretary of State Dr Andrei Baciu chairing the opening session on strategic considerations.
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The meeting gathered representatives of Diplomatic Missions of the SEEHN Member States accredited to Romania, National Health Coordinators and/or Alternates of the Member States to the SEEHN, directors of the SEEHN Regional Health Development Centers (RHDC) and representatives from the partner countries and partner international organizations.
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The opening remarks were given by Dr. Danijela Urosevic, Chair of SEEHN Executive Committee, Dr. Mira Jovanovski Dasic, Head of Secretariat, SEE Health Network, Mr. Robb Butler, Executive Director of the WHO Regional Director`s Office and Ms. Tanja Miščević, RCC`s Deputy Secretary General.
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Considering the worrying resurgence of COVID-19 across the South Eastern European region, the Plenary meeting gave the opportunity to take stock of the situation, anticipate the scenarios for the forthcoming winter season and examine how we can move forward together in a spirit of solidarity and mutual support. Also, the meeting provided a platform to discuss immunization options and health system preparedness in the SEE Region during COVID-19.
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In the closing session of the Plenary, the Romanian Presidency presented its Report reflecting on SEEHN major developments, activities and challenges during its term (July-December 2020) and handed over to Republic of Serbia the chairmanship of the Network.
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At the same time, general policy matters such as the organization of the fifth SEEHN Ministerial Forum to be held in 2021 or 2022 and the celebration of the 20 years of SEEHN in 2021 as well as organizational matters were properly discussed in a closed executive session of the representatives of the SEEHN Member States.
“SEEHN MEMBER STATES RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND IMMUNIZATION AS ONE OF THE CORE HEALTH SYSTEM SERVICES IN SEE REGION”
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The South-Eastern Europe Health Network 42ndnSEEHN Plenary Meeting organized by the SEE Health Network MontenegrinnPresidency, Executive Committee and Secretariat was held on 21 July, 2020 as annonline event.
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Thenmeeting joined the member states National Health Coordinators and /ornAlternates, the partner countries, international organizations, directors ofnthe SEEHN Regional Health Development Centers (RHDC) and Diplomatic corps, withnover 50 participants.
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Then42nd Plenary focused on the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic effect on the SEEHNnMember States, SEEHN major developments, activities and challenges during thenterm of the Montenegrin Presidency (SEEHN Presidency report July 2019 – June,n2020) and the Future Presidency of Romania (July – December 2020).
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Innthis sense, based on the commitments of the SEE Ministers of Health, as specifiednin the Chisinau Pledge, endorsed during their Fourth Ministerial Forum in 2017,nas well as based on the priorities agreed in the SEEHN Montenegrin PresidencynRoadmap from 2019, the SEEHN Secretariat will build upon the discussions andndecisions from the 42nd Plenary Meeting. Thus, the focus is on several prioritynareas:
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1. Commitment to strengthen capacities ofnthe healthcare personnel – implementation of projects to build capacities onnhealth emergency response and in particular on COVID-19.
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2. To address mental health of thenhealthcare personnel.
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3. Gather information on the COVID-19 andnits effects, impact on different areas of the health systems.
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4. Digitalisation.
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5. Vaccination and Immunisation.
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6. Partnerships.
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7. Strengthening of SEEHN technicalnexpertise by supporting its Regional Health Development Centers (RHDC)
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Thisnpandemic more than ever thought us that we cannot be safe somewhere alone andnisolated, instead we need to focus on working together, put resources andncoordinate in a multi-factorial mode. We should explore all collaborations andnfructify them by supporting each other for the common wellness, to promotenuniversal health coverage and people-centered services. Solidarity is the keynprinciple of the SEEHN.
SEE Health Network Presidency, Executive Committeenand Secretariat organised and hosted the 41st Plenary Meeting of the SEE HealthnNetwork, held on 20-21 June 2019 in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia in thenpremises of Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the subject “Healthnworkforce in SEE region, challenges and opportunities: brain drain – brainngain”.
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The 41st Plenary gathered representatives ofnDiplomatic Corps from the SEEHN Member States accredited to the Republic ofnNorth Macedonia, SEEHN National Health Coordinators, the Directors of the SEEHNnRegional Health Development Centres, by the partners and partner internationalnorganizations’ representatives.
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The opening remarks were given by Dr. VenkonFilipce, Chair of the SEE Health Network Presidency and Minister of Health ofnthe Republic of North Macedonia, Mr. Andrej Zernovski, Deputy Minister,nMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia and Dr. MiranJovanovski Dasic, Head of Secretariat, SEE Health Network.
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Chair of the SEE Health Network Presidency andnMinister of Health of the Republic of North Macedonia pointed out that:
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“One of thenmajor challenges we face, and I know, all of our Region is facing- IS thenworkforce shortages. Brain drain is increasing constantly, though,nunfortunately, the brain gain balance is not maintained. This is the reason itnis a very sensible topic and painful at the same time for all of us. Thenmigration of our health personnel towards the EU countries is an understandablenphenomenon, however, we are here today, to continue the conversation on thisntopic and to explore which policy options have been already tested, which are thenshort-term effects or impact and to identify viable solutions for healthnsystems from the SEE Region” Minister Filipce in his opening speech alsonhighlighted the importance of primary health care in the achievement ofnUniversal Health Coverage and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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The 41st SEEHN Plenary as a follow up to thencommitments of the SEE Ministers of Health, stipulated in the Chisinau Pledge,nendorsed during the Fourth Ministerial Forum in 2017 in Moldova, based on thenpriorities agreed within the SEEHN Macedonian Presidency Roadmap in 2018, dealtnwith several important strategic issues:
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– The implementation process of the ChisinaunPledge Action Plan, as a Strategic Framework for the SEE member states undernthe WHO-SEEHN Sub-Regional Cooperation Strategy for the period of 2018-2023;
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– The challenge of health workforce brain drainnfrom European perspective, brain drain challenge in the Western Balkans,ncountry case studies and practices from the SEEHN member states andncross-cutting issues; agreement on joint further actions to be taken;
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– Fostered further strengthening of the workingnrelationship between SEEHN member states, partners and stakeholders.
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Fruitful discussion on health workforce migration werentaken and all participants agreed that:
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It was very productive andninformative Plenary meeting that opened discussion and tried to map thensituation on health workforce migration in the region;
Different experiences were sharednto understand how complex this issue is and that this was followed by meaningful discussions;
Joint comprehensive regionalnapproach by involving different sectors and stakeholders is needed; strong commitment is crucial in thenjoint efforts;
SEEHN can be important mechanismnin tackling this problem;
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nnnnnnnnSupport from the partnersndealing with this issues was also acknowledged; and that their inputs andncontribution were very much appreciated nnnn
