70th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe

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Dr Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, opening speech shows a realistic and welcome approach for collaboration and partnerships.
Only together we can succeed in achieving better health for all.

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SEEHN and WHO Regional Office for Europe – joint efforts for securing access to affordable vaccines

SEEHN and WHO Regional Office for Europe – joint efforts for securing access to affordable vaccines

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Workshop on mapping out opportunities to improve access to affordable vaccine supply in the Member States of the South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) was held in Tirana, Republic of Albania from 27 February to 01 March 2019, organized by WHO RO for Europe, Vaccine-preventable Diseases and Immunization Programme, Division of Health Emergencies and Communicable Diseases.

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This Workshop served as a wide platform for experts involved in national immunization programmes of SEEHN member states, as well as for experts in procurement, market access and market intelligence from WHO, UNICEF and CHAI. They presented, shared experiences and discussed the changing vaccine market, vaccine supply shortages and unaffordable vaccine pricing as well as the complex issues countires are facing with. Participants, also had the unique possibility through meaningful discussions and participatory approach to better understand and utilize the available the vaccine market information and to identify options for improving in-country and cross-border cooperation by defining strategic approaches for securing access to affordable vaccines.

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The Workshop was well-received and highly praised by all participants who committed themselves to continue the discussion within their countries, to fill-in the distributed questionnaire as well as to complete the action plan for the steps forward to be taken at national and regional level.

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Correspondingly, participants agreed to inform on additional more focused support needed at national level in order to continue working on this complex issue.

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SEEHN member states have experienced difficulties in recent years in securing uninterrupted access to vaccines as well as to getting affordable vaccine prices. The meeting was organized as follow up on the Statement of Intent to commit to immunization as a priority, signed in February 2018 in Podgorica by Ministers of Health of all SEEHN member states plus Slovenia and Croatia as partner countries.

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SEEHN Secretariat director at the 68th session of the WHO  Regional Committee for Europe

SEEHN Secretariat director at the 68th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe

68th Regional Committee of WHO Europe, September 17-20, 2018, in Rome, Italy

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The 68th Regional Committee of World Health Organization for Europe (WHO Europe), took place in Rome, Italy, from 17 to 20 September 2018, and was attended by the Health ministers and high-level representatives of the 53 Member States of the WHO Europe, as well as partner organizations and civil society.

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Key technical health issues on this year’s agenda included:

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  • The European health report 2018;
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  • Implementation of the 2030 Agenda roadmap for Sustainable Development, building on Health 2020, the European policy framework for health and well-being, and review of the joint monitoring framework;
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  • Advancing public health in the WHO European Region for sustainable development;
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  • Can people afford to pay for health care? New evidence on financial protection in Europe;
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  • Action plan to improve public health preparedness and response in the WHO European Region;
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  • Strategy on the health and well-being of men in the WHO European Region;
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  • Implementation of the Regional Framework for Surveillance and Control of Invasive Mosquito Vectors and Re-emerging Vector-borne Diseases 2014–2020: lessons learned and the way forward;
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  • Vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization: realizing the full potential of the European Vaccine Action Plan;
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  • Countries at the centre: the strategic role of country offices in the WHO European Region;
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  • Impact of WHO reform on the work of the WHO European Region;
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  • Accreditation of regional non-State actors to the WHO Regional Committee for Europe;
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The 4-day programme also included reports on WHO high-level meetings

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  • Health Systems Respond to NCDs: Experience in the European Region (Sitges, Spain, 16–18 April 2018);
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  • Health Systems for Prosperity and Solidarity: Leaving No One Behind (Tallinn, Estonia, 13–14 June 2018).
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During the WHO Regional Committee for Europe future activities, the budget for the next two years have been discussed and many resolutions were adopted.

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We are very proud that SEEHN activities have been highlighted in the report of Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for the Europe.

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Current SEEHN Presidency Republic of Macedonia with four Statements actively contributed to the discussions.

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The Regional Committee meeting was attended by the South – East European Health Network Secretariat director Dr Mira Jovanovski Dasic, who had several bilateral meetings.

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She received compliments for SEEHN Secretariats efforts in the progress for implementation of the Chisinau Pledge in SEE.

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