On November 9 and 10, a multicountry workshop on “Clinical guidelines on Sexual and Reproductive Health in SEEHN” was held virtually. The workshop was the result of SEEHN cooperation with the Ministry of Health of North Macedonia, the SEEHN Regional Health Development Centre on Sexual and Reproductive Health – the East European Institute for Reproductive Health of Romania and the European Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Tool (TAIEX) that funded the workshop.
In her introductory statement, Dr. Dasic, Director of the SEEHN Secretariat, mentioned that COVID-19 has caused major failures and disruptions that need to be remedied as soon as possible so to reduce the inequality gap. SEEHN’s work will focus on counteracting the devastating consequences. “Low- and middle-income countries have suffered the most and have seen a decline in service delivery of up to 47%. WHO reports that the most frequently interrupted services on average included: unit-based services (61%); diagnosis and treatment of noncommunicable diseases (69%), family planning and contraception (68%), prenatal care (56%) and diagnosis and treatment of cancer (55%). Unfortunately, the impact will be far-reaching due to the increasing disparities between countries and within them. Our work will aim to reduce this,” she said.
The purpose of this multi-country workshop is to strengthen the capacity of health professionals to develop and implement clinical guidelines for sexual and reproductive health services, which have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the two-day talks, the experts also discussed the current situation in the South Eastern Europe region and proposed a coherent and comprehensive national policy framework. In addition, experts provided advice on how to produce and promote good clinical practice in the best interests of the patient to improve the quality and effectiveness of healthcare.
