WHO Country Office
The role of a WHO/Europe country office is to respond to requests from the host country to support policy-making for sustainable health development, taking a holistic health-system approach. This includes providing guidance, building up local relationships to implement technical cooperation, making standards and agreements, and ensuring that public health measures are coordinated and in place during crises.
The WHO Office in Serbia was established as a humanitarian assistance office in June 1992 in Belgrade to provide public health advice to United Nations agencies and humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. In October 2002, a formal agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and WHO transformed the office into a full country office:
- to assess the country’s health needs and priorities, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health;
- to assist in identifying and formulating priorities for WHO collaboration and implement WHO policy in the country;
- to manage implementation of the biennial collaborative agreement (BCA) between WHO/Europe and Serbia and monitor implementation of all WHO activities;
- to coordinate WHO input to the national health authorities;
- to liaise with WHO collaborating centres and projects;
- to work in close partnership with United Nations sister agencies, the European Union (EU) and other international agencies in order to achieve synergies and maximum effect of international assistance to the Serbian health system.
The Office is the focal point for WHO activities in Serbia. The country team consists of 8 people. The priorities for the Country Office are set out in the biennial collaborative agreement between WHO/Europe and the host country. The Office implements the agreement in close collaboration with national institutions and international partner agencies.
