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Meeting between Dr. Luca Rosi, Head of the International Affairs, Italian National Institute of Public Health (SEEHN Partner) and Dr Mira Jovanovski Dasic the SEEHN Secretariat Director

Dr. Luca Rosi, Head of the International Affairs, Italian National Institute of Public Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanita’), on 26th March 2018 paid a visit to the Secretariat premises in Skopje.

The Director of SEEHN Secretariat Dr. Mira Jovanovski Dasic welcomed Dr Rosi and presented recent developments within SEEHN, the work on the strengthening of the governing bodies of the SEEHN, the preparation of the Chisinau Pledge Action Plan and the activities implemented in the past period.

The deliberations included current and future plans of SEEHN, comprising the readiness to continue working on public health issues in the SEE Region, strengthening the role of the Secretariat itself and strategic partnerships.

Interlocutors exchanged opinions regarding possibilities for partner cooperation between the Italian National Institute of Public Health and SEEHN, other opportunities of financing possible bilateral actions and projects, their interconnectivity within multi-stakeholder involvement initiatives.

Particularly, Dr. Dasic and Dr. Rosi conveyed on key actions to be implemented in the SEE member states reaffirming fundamentals for development, social cohesion and prosperity.

Key topics in the discussion included:

To establish a plan for actions to address Public Health challenges especially those with cross-border implications;

To enhance the technical capacity of experts and infrastructures;

To provide Technical Assistance for building community resilience skills;

To develop in the future a permanent forum – open source – for know-how exchange in the SEE Region;

To support quality training programs in educational institutions in the SEE Region.

Finally, Dr. Dasic and Dr. Rosi expressed readiness to revive the partnership of SEEHN with the Istituto Superiore di Sanita’. Dr. Rosi assured to provide assistance needed to that extent.

THE REPORT OF THE 39 PLENARY MEETING OF THE SEEHN, 23-24 NOVEMBER 2017, SOFIA REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

Decisions

The 39^th SEEHN Plenary meeting under the subject “Promoting Health amongst Children and Youth in South Eastern Europe” was held on 23-24 November 2017 in Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria, organized jointly by the Presidency of the Republic of Bulgaria and the SEEHN Secretariat.

This event was attended by the National Health Coordinators(NHCs) of the Member States to the SEEHN, the partner countries and partner international organizations, directors of the SEEHN Regional Health Development Centers (RHDC) and the Ambassadors of the SEEHN Member States accredited to Bulgaria.

The purpose of the Plenary meeting was to discuss the SEEHN major developments, activities and challenges during the term of the Bulgarian Presidency (SEEHN Presidency report June – December, 2017) and the next – Israeli Presidency (January 2018 – June 2018).

In follow up to the commitments of the SEE Ministers of Health, as stipulated in the Chisinau Pledge, endorsed during the Fourth Ministerial Forum in 2017, based also on the priorities related to the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2018, the 39^th Plenary dealt with two important strategic matters:

The Action Plan for the implementation of the Chisinau Pledge 2017-2020, objectives, measures and health indicators, as Strategic Framework for the SEE Member Countries.

Prioritization of Health promotion amongst children and youth by enhancing regional efforts and cooperation to improve children’s health, promote healthy lifestyles and to contribute to the prevention of NCDs, to accelerate the progress in the implementation of the SDG Agenda 2030.

Additionally, the Plenary took important decisions on the following technical and business issues of major priorities: Executive Committee and Chair election. National Health Coordinators (NHC) status; SEEHN Secretariat (programme, budget, reports, staff); RHDCs (outcome of the technical meeting with RHDCs and SOPs); EC/TAIEX (challenges); Partners (joint activities).

SUMMARY REPORT OF THE 39thPLENARY MEETING OF THE SEE HEALTH NETWORK 23-24 NOVEMBER 2017, SOFIA REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

FINAL PROGRAMME

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

South-eastern European countries to develop regional action plan

News, News from the SEEHN Member States

The South‐eastern European countries are coming together in Podgorica, Montenegro on 21 February 2018 to develop a regional action plan for 2 years with specific strategic objectives and activities to implement the Chisinau Pledge.

Nine Member States (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Israel, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) are part of the South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN). They signed in April 2017 the Chisinau Pledge committing to join action in collaboration with WHO and partners on a range of issues. The objective of the meeting in Podgorica is to discuss how WHO can support the network in implementing these commitments during the 2018-2019 biennium.

“The Chisinau Pledge is an important instrument to ensure the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the sub-region,” says Dr Lucianne Licari, SEEHN Special Representative of the Regional Director of in the WHO Regional Office for Europe. “WHO as a key partner of the network continues to provide technical support required to Member States, not only through the Biennial Collaborative Agreements (BCAs) signed with individual countries but also in multi-country collaborations across the network.”

National Health Coordinators of the network and SEE representatives of Regional Health Development Centres will participate in the meeting, along with representatives of WHO from the Regional Office for Europe. They will discuss opportunities for achieving the goals and strategic objectives of the Chisinau Pledge in the SEE region and reaching an agreementon the way forward to address common challenges.

“The SEEHN network is dependent on the support of the partner organizations in implementing the commitments made in the Chisinau Pledge,” says Dr Mira Jovanovski Dasic, Head of the Secretariat of the Network. “We appreciate the long-standing partnership we have with WHO and the support the network receives from WHO. We hope other partners of the network will follow the WHO example in supporting the implementation of the pledge.”

The Chisinau Pledge calls upon joint action of the Member states with partners on:

1. Sustaining and strengthening the regional cooperation in public health by takingdeliberate action to influence governance in other policy arenas to promote and protect health, and

2. Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by taking advantage of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to renew countries’ commitments to health and to seek intersectoral action to advance the priorities of the European Health 2020 policy framework towards 2030.