Third Health Ministers’ Forum - Health in All Policies in South-eastern Europe: a Shared Goal and Responsibility
Rade Nagraisalovic
13–14 October 2011, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Forum was held after a decade of regional cooperation in south-eastern Europe (SEE), which took part in European efforts to achieve equity and accountability in health, and built on major European resolutions, charters and communications, treaties, frameworks and action plans, as well as the new European policy for health, Health 2020.
The Forum:
- reviewed the performance of the SEE Health Network over the past 10 years and identified opportunities for future cooperation;
- reviewed the status, national capacities and future opportunities related to health in all policies in SEE;
- brought together high-level representatives of governments within and beyond SEE in sharing best practices and identifying common challenges; and
- provided an opportunity to discuss the status and challenges of noncommunicable diseases and joint efforts to address the socioeconomic determinants of health.
The first and second health ministers’ forums, in 2001 and 2005, resulted in the Dubrovnik and Skopje pledges. The Third Forum resulted in a third political document, the Banja Luka Pledge. In it, all SEE governments expressed political commitment to extending regional cooperation in order to introduce and/or strengthen the values, priorities and action needed to achieve equity and accountability in health.
