European issue-based coalition on health: Report of first meeting (2016)

Copenhagen, Denmark, 10.11.2016

The first meeting of the Issue-based Coalition on Health took place at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 10 November 2016. The Coalition was established at the meeting of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) Regional Team for Europe and Central Asia held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11–12 May 2016 as a useful mean of cross-sectoral cooperation on health.

The purpose of this coalition, led by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, is to act as a pan-European-enabling mechanism to facilitate and promote the implementation in the Region of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the health-related targets of the other goals by coordinating the activities of the relevant United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies and other intergovernmental organizations and partners.

The agencies participating in the first meeting included the United Nations Children's Fund (maternal and child health), United Nations Population Fund (reproductive health), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (communicable diseases: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and immunizations), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (migration), United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Office for Project Services.

Meeting participants discussed the added value of the coalition, criteria for identifying priorities, four workstreams to be further developed, cross-cutting aspects (such as equity), as well as the potential for advocacy and information sharing. The meeting report will be made available for further discussion and input at the joint meeting of the Regional Coordination Mechanism and the Europe and Central Asia UNDG on 5–6 December 2017. The next meeting of the Coalition is planned for March, 2017.