Promoting and managing change towards environmentally sustainable health systems (2017)

24–25 October 2016, Bonn, Germany. Meeting report

Improved environmental sustainability in health systems (ESHS) can yield benefits for patients, practitioners, health systems functions and the environment and supports the strategic objectives of Health 2020. The latest in a series of technical and policy workshops on ESHS took place on 24 and 25 October 2016 at the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany. The participants – health systems experts and representatives of Member States, United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations – discussed the promotion and management of ESHS in the Region and considered a revised version of a draft strategic document to support relevant policy discussions. They stressed the importance of mobilizing and informing national support for ESHS, and discussed proposals for SMART targets for ESHS and possible elements of a draft statement for inclusion in the ministerial declaration of the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 2017.