This document discusses the implementation of the WHO European Region's Health 2020 policy framework from 2012-2014. It outlines two strategic objectives and four common policy priorities for health. It describes moving from developing the policy to taking action by helping countries update their national health policies and improve public health capacities. The document also discusses promoting the framework, building implementation capacity, supporting country cooperation, and exploring new partnerships to advance the goals of Health 2020 across Europe.
3. : a new health policy framework for Europe
Health 2020:
2 strategic objectives
+
4 common policy
priorities for
health
Moving from words to action
New values and new knowledge
translated into evidence-informed policy
interventions
Going upstream to address root causes,
to improve health in a more equitable
and sustainable way
How? Helping countries to update their
national health policies, strategies and
plans and to improve their public health
capacities and services
4. Making Health 2020
known across the Region
: moving from words to action
Promoting evidence to
accelerate action
Health 2020 in the work
of the Regional Office
Building capacity
for implementation
Optimizing support
for countries
Health 2020 developments
across Europe
6. in the work of the Regional Office
Taking the
Health 2020
vision forward
in countries
Biennial
collaborative
agreements
(BCAs) for
2014–2015
Country
cooperation
strategies (CCSs)
in Europe
7. : building implementation capacity
• Two senior posts (dealing
with national health policies
and governance for health)
established in the Regional
Office
• Briefings and training for
senior health-policy
consultants on
implementing Health 2020
• Health 2020
implementation package
Introducing Health 2020
to different stakeholders
across sectors
Applying the Health
2020 lens to country
situation analysis
Implementing whole-of-government
and whole-of-
society approaches
Addressing the social
determinants of health,
equity, gender and
human rights
Developing Health-2020-
based national and
subnational health policies,
strategies and plans
Strengthening public
health capacities and
services
Strengthening
monitoring and
evaluation
Operationalizing new
concepts and evidence
Integrated approaches
to implementing the
four priority policy areas
of Health 2020
8. : exploring and supporting new partnerships
• Close collaboration between the WHO
Regional Office for Europe and Member
States to engage with partners
• Effective cooperation between WHO
and other United Nations agencies, the
European Union and its institutions, the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development, global
health partnerships, subregional
networks and nongovernmental
organizations
10. • We seek to build momentum, with a movement involving many
partners across the European Region to make this happen
• The success of Health 2020’s implementation will be judged
against its fundamental goals.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Two years ago together we made a promise to the peoples of our Region to accelerate our efforts for improving health and well-being and reducing inequalities. Endorsing Health 2020 meant a commitment to strong values such as the right to health, equity and universal coverage and a will to put health high on the social and political agenda of your governments. Health is a political choice. Understanding health and well-being as a shared goal of whole governments and whole of societies is key to a 21st century approach to health and it is at the heart of Health 2020. We have come a long way to understand better the significance of the social determinants of health and we have come a long way to understand that the health sector alone cannot address the systemic and multi-faceted risks of todays public health challenges. Moreover we have understood better that health can make a significant contribution to the achievement of the goals of many other sectors.
Taking forward the Health 2020 vision requires strong leadership, mobilizing many actors and creating adequate capacities for implermentation at all levels As Regional Director, I have made it my first priority to see that Health 2020 is implemented to its full promise.
Health 2020 is indeed fully consistent with all these themes. I should like to re-emphasize that health and well-being are essential for sustainable economic and social development and of vital concern to the lives of every person, family and community. Enabling people to exercise control over their health and its determinants builds communities and improves their health.. Health 2020 has given us the framework to connect better and more strategically with development agendas and also the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) as well as other UN reform processes.
Its implementation has become the guiding force for all of the work of the WHO Regional Office. It has given us the strategic entry points to not only seriously address inequities and health in all policies but also to renew commitment on strengthening public health with emphasis on population and life-course based approaches to prevention and health promotion. Vitally Health 2020 has made a strong moral and economic case for “going upstream” to address root causes. Reaching out to different sectors and levels of government with clear arguments and robust evidence is essential. Today’s health policy must be multi-faceted and multisectoral, with the active involvement of all levels of government and other actors at international, national and local levels. I have created new resources and reinforced our expertise to allow us to have the necessary capacity to support you in your efforts to work across sectors.
Since the adoption of Health 2020 by the Regional Committee in 2012 significant and promising developments implementing the Health 2020 vision can be already shown across the Region. This is evidence that you have taken this challenge seriously. Most importantly I have been encouraged by your openness and willingness to use the Health 2020 political leverage to tackle challenging aspects of your health systems and health improvement strategies. For instance striving for universal coverage, protecting vulnerable populations, investing in prevention, tackling comprehensively NCDs or giving your children a healthy start in life. In my presentation I should like to give you an overview of how we have adjusted and oriented the work of the whole European Office to implementing Health 2020. In this context a large focus of our work with countries has been on updating their national health policies, strategies and plans to be aligned and coherent with Health 2020. Today throughout the Region many of you have already embarked on processes of establishing inter-ministerial mechanisms for health. I am very impressed by these developments and I am particularly interested in ensuring that such efforts are sustainable and contribute to change and innovation.
We have vigorously focused on capacity building activities and types of support to countries that can deliver maximum impact. These cover 6 main areas of work: making Health 2020 known across the Region and building commitment; promoting the evidence and recommendations of our studies to accelerate action; aligning the work of the Regional Office with every aspect of Health 2020; building capacity for implementation; optimizing outcomes through better coordinated and integrated delivery in countries; and responding to country requests for support. The working document on the Health 2020 implementation in the past two years provides a detail account of progress and activities in each of these six areas. We have also produced a brochure with an quick overview of the scope of the work under each of the six headings.
We do not work alone. As I said earlier Health 2020 must actively engage a wide diversity of stakeholders in working together to improve health and well-being. Since its endorsement I have been invited to many countries for national launches and debates on Health 2020, and met with prime ministers and presidents to discuss health from a whole-of-government and whole-of-society perspective. I am most grateful for these conversations. In addition, several recently appointed ministers of health have been invited to the Regional Office in Copenhagen for official visits, during which the Health 2020 policy framework was presented and considered from the perspective of each country. Health 2020 has also been promoted at a variety of international health conferences and public health fora across Europe. The sub-regional launches represent unique platforms for policy dialogues on Health 2020 approaches and the recommendations of our three major studies on the social determinants, governance for health and on the economics of prevention as well as sharing and learning from real experiences. I am grateful to the UK, Finland, Montenegro and Uzbekistan for their support to organise such launches. Next year I should like to initiate a series of meetings with different sectors and begin to build a more robust basis for collaboration.
An important component of the integration of Health 2020 into the work of the Office has been biennial collaborative agreements (BCAs) for the 2014–2015 biennium, which have a new structure that facilitates understanding how a country intends to take the Health 2020 vision forward in the national context and how the Regional Office can support those efforts, both at the strategic level and with specific technical approaches. Work is also under way to roll out a Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) in the European Region within the Health 2020 policy framework. We have developed road-maps identifying key policy and strategic entry points in the implementation of Health 2020 in all BCA countries.
Resources are essential for implementing Health 2020. In order to strengthen the overall support to Health 2020 implementation, a number of strategic and pragmatic decisions have been made, including a call for health policy experts to be seconded to the Regional Office to implement Health 2020. This was successful and two senior posts, on national health policies and governance for health, have been established recently in the Regional Office. A first round of briefings and training for senior health policy consultants on implementation of Health 2020 took place in early 2014 and a second round will be held shortly.
A resource “package” of tools and services for Health 2020 implementation has been produced, designed for people and institutions in political and technical roles in countries, including ministers and ministries of health, health associations and agencies, WHO country offices, other government and sector actors and WHO networks. The package combines tools, services and written materials to support evidence-informed policy development, institutional strengthening and stakeholder engagement. It will be made available on the web and regularly updated. I am giving special priority to producing sectoral briefs to allow us to have a more meaningful and focused dialogue with other sectors. We will circulate an example such brief on Education and we would welcome your feedback.
Key to the success of Health 2020 will be close collaboration of Member States and WHO and reaching out to engage with international partners. The Regional Office has worked to establish and maintain effective collaboration with many partners, for example United Nations agencies, the European Union and its institutions, the OECD, global health partnerships such as the GAVI Alliance and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, sub-regional networks and nongovernmental organizations. The Office has also collaborated with a number of civil society actors, including nongovernmental organizations, philanthropic foundations and academia.
Many Member States are now taking up the Health 2020 challenge. The paper: Implementing Health 20220: 2012-2014 gives many examples of progress in countries and illustrations of good practices. A number of national health policies have or are being aligned with Health 2020, and this process with continue in the 2014-2015 biennium. There have also been a number of national reviews of health policies, strategies and laws through the Health 2020 perspective. With the support of the Regional Office, numerous Member States have also conducted assessments of governance for health, applying the Health 2020 lens and increasing their capacity for implementing whole of government and health in all policy approaches. Countries have begun identifying national indicators and targets to monitor progress in the implementation of Health 2020.
I greatly welcome these developments. In this short introductory presentation I have avoided giving country-by-country examples, but may I mention two particular significant developments? I am greatly heartened to see that many Member States are working to implement the Health 2020 vision by indeed strengthening public health services and capacities. And in the countries of the South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) the Health 2020 policy framework was been used as a foundation for incorporating health into the SEE 2020 growth strategy, with support from the Regional Office. In parallel, the Network is developing a SEEHN health strategy based on Health 2020 goals. This is a very exciting development, bringing health and well-being alongside sustainable development in an integrated way. I should also like to make reference to the small countries Health 2020 initiative that has lead to an exciting new platform of cand support involving 8 of our Member States.
Health 2020 aims to further improve the health and well-being of the European regional populations, in a more equitable way that hitherto. The policy framework provides both the evidence and the evidence-based recommendations to make these goals reality. We need to continue promoting and encouraging the political and social commitment of governments, civil society, transnational bodies and academic institutions to translate this into reality. We seek a momentum, a movement in fact, involving many partners across the European Region to make this happen. We have the knowledge and technology to improve health and well-being yet further in the European Region, and we can do this more equitably. Health 2020 shows us the way, and its success will be judged against these fundamental goals. I should like to see an acceleration of our efforts today and in the months to come to make the Health 2020 vision a reality in every corner of our Region.