Centre for noncommunicable diseases discussed during visit of Russian Federation delegation

The delegation – led by Dr S. Axelrod, deputy director of the department of international cooperation and public relations at the Ministry of Health – visited WHO/Europe on 19–21 August 2013.

As part of its strong commitment to addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and sharing knowledge throughout the WHO European Region, the Russian Federation has expressed interest in opening a WHO/Europe centre on NCDs in Moscow. The Russian Federation will report on progress towards opening the NCD centre at the sixty-third session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, in September 2013.

The delegation’s visit included an orientation in Bonn, Germany on the work of WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, one of WHO/Europe’s geographically dispersed technical offices. In addition, the delegation met WHO/Europe’s divisional directors to discuss current and future activities and collaboration, including Russian-funded subregional projects, the importance of enhancing Russian-language resources in the subregion, forthcoming technical meetings and events, health priorities during the Russian Federation’s upcoming presidency of the Group of Eight (G8) and building new networks.

Country cooperation strategy for the Russian Federation

The first steps towards developing a country cooperation strategy for WHO and the Russian Federation were established, following agreement between WHO/Europe and the Ministry of Health.

This type of strategy fosters policy coherence and ensures WHO collaboration in strategic areas; these benefit not only the Member State concerned but also countries to which it gives development aid.

The Russian Federation would be the second country in the European Region, after Switzerland, to develop a country cooperation strategy.