Opinion: a coalition for more innovation in public health

In her April 2019 column for the European Journal of Public Health, Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, writes about the recently established Coalition of Partners (CoP) for strengthening public health services.

“Beyond a coalition, the CoP strives to function as a community of practice and an incubator for new initiatives,” Dr Jakab writes. “Two years into the process, substantial results are now emerging. As a result of their involvement in the CoP, colleagues in Kyrgyzstan have launched a participatory process to design a reform of their public health services and mobilized a national coalition in support of the reform,” she adds.

The CoP is working to foster effective collaboration and coordination across disciplines, institutions and sectoral boundaries; aiming to engage stakeholders in the co-creation and implementation of action to improve public health services in the European Region. The CoP is a community of practice where change agents from within the public health community can come together to share experiences, be inspired and learn from one another. Participatory methods are central to the approach.

You can read more on our website and in our recently published expert meeting report, “Transformation in Practice: the third Meeting of the Coalition of Partners to Strengthen Public Health Services in the European Region” (links below).

If you are inspired and would like to get involved with the CoP, feel free to contact the CoP secretariat at euphs@who.int.