Development of national strategies – case studies from five countries

European Strategy for Child and Adolescent Health and Development

The WHO European strategy for child and adolescent health and development was adopted by the WHO Regional Committee in September 2005. Its purpose is to assist Member States in formulating their own policies and programmes and is based on a broad concept and understanding that views health in a lifecourse perspective. WHO Regional Office for Europe has been monitoring the development of the European Strategy in Member States through a cross-Europe survey and country case studies. The cross-Europe survey set out to collect simple, comparable and generalizable data from as many countries as possible, and the case studies aim to inform about best practices and lessons learnt in the development process.

The case study process involved five countries (Armenia, Albania, Hungary, United Kingdom (Scotland) and Uzbekistan) with the aim of providing extensive descriptions and analysis on national experiences of developing strategies and policies for children and adolescents. The intention is that the information provided through the case studies can be used in countries
currently developing national strategies based on the European Strategy.