Statement – WHO Regional Director for Europe gives update on the work of the Regional Office ahead of virtual Regional Committee

Statement by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, to the 27th Standing Committee of the Regional Committee for Europe.

8 September 2020

Ahead of the 70th Regional Committee (RC70), to be held virtually for the first time, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge gave an update on the recent work of WHO’s Regional Office for Europe with the Standing Committee of the Regional Committee (SCRC). The meeting of the SCRC continued its preparations for RC70, including nominating officers, creating a credential committee, and establishing a short list of candidates for the Executive Board and Standing Committee. This session also marked the final time that Dr Søren Brostrøm will chair the SCRC.

Dear Standing Committee members,

Thank you for your continued support and collaboration during these unprecedented times.

Given the short time today and our focus on next week’s Regional Committee I would like to provide a brief update on the various activities linked to the GPW13’s main pillars which have taken place since our last regular SCRC meeting on 15 May.

Health emergencies

We continue to grapple with the biggest health emergency of our time. This has pushed us to quickly rethink and reshape the way we operate from the policy perspective right down to the service delivery level.

In August, we jointly facilitated a meeting with the Italian Minister of Health, Mr. Roberto Speranza, on schooling in the time of COVID. This drove forward our commitment to help Member States open schools safely as they open their economies. We want to ensure that children and adolescents are not left behind during this pandemic and we generated some concrete ways forward.

On the macro level we also continued to work with Member States and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on Emergency Preparedness and Response beyond COVID-19.

Our continued commitment to the capacity building of health officials led the EURO/WHE team to conduct 46 capacity building webinars on clinical management, infection prevention and control (IPC), and laboratories. 51 emergency response missions were conducted, and 130 shipments of supplies were delivered across the region (valued at US$ 40 million).

On my first mission since the start of the pandemic, I signed a financial agreement with the Government of Turkey to establish a new WHO European Centre for Preparedness for Humanitarian and Health Emergencies. This centre will be a vital resource, institutionalizing evidence and best practices and facilitating applied research to strengthen health emergency response and disaster risk management.

Our health emergencies programming also included the launch of the Health Buddy multilingual interactive Chatbot with UNICEF. It brings vital information into the hands of our citizens.

Universal health coverage

Our work continues to be centred on our commitment to achieving universal health coverage in the Region. Our efforts on this front have been far-reaching.

As we rethink our way of operating amidst the pandemic, we have developed a new strategy for our Geographically Dispersed Office in Almaty, applying our understanding of primary health care in the time of COVID.

Central to our efforts to strengthen public policy and planning to ensure UHC, I initiated the development of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, chaired by Professor Mario Monti, President of Bocconi University.

The Commission will make recommendations on investments and reforms to strengthen community resilience and to help us deliver on the sustainable development goals. By bringing together a multitude of disciplines, the Commission seeks to rethink public policy with health at the centre under the concept of “one health.” So far, the Commission has identified the digital environment as a key focus area as we tackle digital poverty and the fundamental link between health and social care.

We continue to explore how we can strengthen equitable access to affordable vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. This has involved continued engagement with you and planning for the meeting in Oslo in March 2021 to develop a stronger way forward.

Finally, in collaboration with The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), we developed a Framework of Competencies for the Public Health workforce.

Health and well-being

Through our commitment to create healthy environments, reduce risk factors and address the determinants of health in our Region, we have undertaken several activities.

The launch of the Mental Health Coalition aims to improve mental health policies and practices across the Region. It brings together a broad coalition of mental health leaders, champions, service users and other partners.

A joint UN webinar was conducted under the UN Issue-based Coalition on Gender equality to share lessons learned and challenges in addressing gender-based violence in country-level COVID-19 responses.

An Independent Technical Advisory Group on TB was convened with national programme managers and key partners, including affected communities, to advise on considerations for TB and HIV during the pandemic.

Our focus on vaccines included Regional Working Group coordination on COVID-19 vaccination and deployment initiated as part of the regional framework to ensure equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccine(s).

In addition to this, we continue to provide support to health ministries on the resumption and catch-up of vaccination programmes interrupted by the pandemic. We are all steadfast in our commitment to keeping the Region polio-free, while rubella and measles elimination remains high on our agenda.

And finally, towards a WHO/Europe that is fit-for-purpose

Our commitment to optimizing the use of available resources to ensure financial sustainability for the future and reverse chronic funding gaps has shaped the transformation of our Region.

The technical portfolio of WHO/Europe is being streamlined into three divisions/three core priorities: Universal Health Coverage, health security, and health and well-being. They are to be supported by the Office of the Regional Director and a Division of Business Operations.

Structural alignment of the activities of the Regional Office in Copenhagen is under way, in full consultation with the staff of the Office and the Staff Association.

An in-depth functional review is under way (to be concluded in the next month). The functions of each unit and each staff position in the new divisions are being determined.

We will streamline business processes through new digitization platforms and remain committed to how we can maximize new modalities for agile working teams.

Since the last SCRC meeting in May, I have signed new Bilateral Country Agreements with the Republic of Moldova, Latvia, Czechia, and the Kyrgyz Republic.

Our resource mobilization activities include strengthened funding and cooperation from the European Commission, namely through a grant from DG NEAR. We are also very grateful to Germany for their flexible funding contributions, and as another example, just last week, Denmark announced a doubling of their voluntary core contributions.

We have continued to grow our media impact by engagements on health in the Region with regular live press briefings and interviews with top tier and regionally important media including AFP, Al Jazeera, CNN, Euronews, Corriere della Sera, Bloomberg, Khabar 24, Russia 24, La Repubblica, and Sky News.

Our strong and collaborative relationship with the EU continues, including an invitation for myself and the DG to hold an exchange of views with the European Parliament in June, and participating in an informal meeting of EU Health Ministers, convened by the German Presidency, in July.

And finally, the EPW has gone through extensive and comprehensive consultation (with Member States, Non-State Actors, the UN, other partners, staff, and the general public). These wide-ranging consultations have contributed to substantial improvements in several iterations of the document. The final EPW is to be submitted for adoption to the Regional Committee next week.

Despite these times of uncertainty, and the growing challenges we face, I remain optimistic about the impact the EPW can have in our Region. Now more than ever, steadfast in our commitment to leaving no one behind, I am grateful for your support and the unwavering commitment of our teams across the Region to meet the expectations of our citizens.