Wednesday, December 19, 2012

SEEHN meets in Tel Aviv, Israel, 10-11 December 2012

"The SEE Health Network held its semi-annual plenary meeting on 10 and 11 December in Tel Aviv, Israel.  Ambassadors of the SEEHN Member States Serbia, Croatia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia took part at this meeting and this will be further employed as regular SEEHN practice focused at strengthening health diplomacy and the political component of the regional cooperation in public health in the SEE in line with the SEEHN Banja Luka Pledge (2011).

SEEHN scaled up partnerships for public health signing Memorandum of Understanding with Project HOPE, focusing on further implementation of the Banja Luka Pledge II pillar on equity and accountability in health through practicing health in all policies approach. The Plenary reviewed significant action performed, based on the Israeli Presidency report presented.

Dr Joanna Nurse presented an overview of H2020 and the European Action Plan on strengthening public health services and as a group, discussed concrete how to co-ordinate planning over the coming years to align the work of the SEEHN to Health 2020 and to adapt the EAP for strengthening public health to the setting and priorities of the SEEHN.

A workshop on further implementation of the Banja Luka Pledge II pillar on equity and accountability in health through practicing health in all policies approach was held. Dr. Chris Brown outlined different approaches to improving policies and partnership working across other sectors in order to improve health and address inequalities in health. Next steps were identified regarding how to take this work forward in the SEEHN.

The Plenary elected a new Executive Committee after 6 years of the extended mandate of Mrs. Snezhana Chichevalieva as a Chair, and the retirement of Dr. Maria Ruseva from WHO/EURO. Dr. Goran Cherkez will perform as a Chair of the Executive Committee in 2013.

SEEHN continues to develop and strengthen its independent sub-regional structures: The Deputy Minister Jovica Andovski from the Host Country of the SEEHN Secretariat reported at the Plenary that the Secretariat has been registered as an international entity and preparations for the inauguration event have been already started. The Secretariat will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister of the Host Country, Mr. Nikola Gruevski, in the presence of the Regional Director of the WHO/EURO, the Ambassadors, heads of the international organisations that are SEEHN partners, Minister of Health of Slovenia, as the representative of the  SEEHN partner countries and other high level political and technical persons from the SEEHN member states and SEE regional cooperation structures, on 3-4 February 2013, in Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". “We are happy to host the Seat of the Secretariat and to provide for the implementation of the SEEHN Agreement on the Arrangements for the Seat of the Secretariat that was ratified by the Macedonian Parliament and signed by other 9 member States”- Deputy Minister Jovica Andovski said.

Monday, December 3, 2012

SEEHN eHiAP meeting in Slovenia

South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) organized a meeting on equity in Health in All Policies (eHiAP) in Moravske Toplice, Slovenia, on 7-8 November 2012.
Hosted by the Ministry of Health of Slovenia and facilitated by the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development (WHO Venice Office), the meeting was designed for technical focal points and experts from each Member State that implements equity in Health in All Policies (eHiAP). This meeting activity falls under the umbrella of the SEEHN Regional Health Development Center (RHDC) on Strengthening Public Health Services based in Skopje, The Former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. In addition, directors of the SEEHN RHDCs on human resources in health, blood safety, accreditation and quality of care and non-communicable diseases participated, thus making the meeting an exercise of the HiAP in itself.( Annex 1: List of Participants).

Health in All Policies (HiAP) addresses complex challenges of health and well-being by promoting an integrated policy response across sector and portfolio boundaries, incorporating concern for health and health equity impacts into the policy development process of all sectors and agencies. The Banja Luka Pledge signed in 2011 reinforced the Region’s commitment for advancing the HiAP approach. In this view, the meeting had the overall aim to support SEEHN countries to advance implementation of the second pillar of the Banja Luka Pledge on HiAP: Achieving equity and accountability in health.


Click here to read or download the report.

SEEHN plenary meeting in Israel

"SEE Health Network will gather for its semiannual plenary meeting on 10 and 11 December in Tel Aviv, Israel.  Ambassadors of the 10  SEEHN  Member States are invited to take part at this meeting and this will be further employed as regular SEEHN practice focused at strengthening political component of the regional cooperation in public health in the SEE.

SEEHN scales up partnerships for public health signing Memorandum of Understanding with Project HOPE, focusing on further implementation of the Banja Luka Pledge II pillar on equity and accountability in health through practicing health in all policies approach. The Plenary will take forward SEEHN action on H2020 and the European Action Plan on strengthening public health services.

SEEHN continues to develop and strengthen its independent sub-regional structures: The SEEHN Secretariat has been registered as an international entity and preparations for the inauguration event will be reviewed at this Plenary Meeting.The Secretariat will be inaugurated in the presence of the Regional Director of the WHO/EURO,the Ambassadors and other high level political and technical persons from the SEEHN member states and SEE regional cooperation structures,  on 5-6 February 2013,  in Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"