Briefing of newly appointed national technical focal points in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
WHO
The Minister of Health of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia appointed new national technical focal points (NTFPs) responsible for cooperation with WHO in December 2014. An introductory meeting for the new NTFPs, to discuss and clarify roles, responsibilities and lines of communication in achieving planned outputs as part of the biennial collaborative agreement (BCA) between WHO and the Ministry of Health for 2014–2015, was organized on 27 January 2015 by the WHO Country Office in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. The meeting also provided an opportunity to review country developments and current progress in BCA implementation.
The Head of the WHO Country Office, Ms Chichevalieva, provided an overview of the WHO mandate in the country and presented the roles and responsibilities of the NTFPs. She emphasized that their key role is to act as a first contact for routine communication on strategic and technical issues and to present the Ministry of Health’s views in collaboration with WHO. In addition, she stressed the importance of the NTFPs in planning, implementation and monitoring of BCA-related activities towards achieving specific expected results.
Dr Jovanka Kostovska, in her capacity as Ministry of Health National Counterpart with WHO for technical issues, congratulated the newly appointed NTFPs informing them that their role is essential for coordinating, monitoring and reporting on the activities within the priorities for work agreed with WHO and that the Ministry of Health expects individual proactive engagement in the coming period.
During the meeting, the way forward in implementation of Health 2020, the European policy for health and well-being, was presented and discussed, including the priorities and targets to be achieved by 2020 and the NTFPs’role in its successful implementation in the country.
The WHO Country Office will continue to organize regular briefings for NTFPs to ensure the highest level of quality of all technical work conducted in the country in line with the BCA and agreed priorities.
