The meeting discussions built upon the results of the WHO EURO High-Level Meeting on Health and Care Workforce, held on March 22-23 in Bucharest.

The sessions focused on addressing the surging challenges faced in a rapidly changing political environment (workforce shortages and imbalances), migration and its impact on regulation alongside maximizing new opportunities for health offered by powerful enablers, like research and digitalization.

Dr Dasic participated in the first session 1: “Managing Recruitment and Retention of Nurses and Midwives in the WHO European Region” and reflected on the different strategies currently followed to prevent burnout among the workforce in the SEE Region.

For over a decade, SEEHN has ranked high mental health, placing it upfront on the agenda of the health ministries across the SEE region. Among other highlights Dr Dasic underlined  the need for prioritizing healthcare workers well-being, through fostering teamwork and communication, and promoting resilience, for a better quality of care.

SEE Health Network remains committed to assisting its member states  in this transformative process!

Congratulations to Romanian order of nurses and midwifes and Ministry of Health of Romania for the excellent organization of this event.

Dr Mira J.Dasic had an opening video address during the training workshop for public health professionals and SEE journalists on public health partnership with media to communicate science during health emergencies, that took place in Vienna, Austria on 21-23 March 2023. The Workshop is organized by the Southeast European Center for Surveillance and Control of Infectious Diseases (SECID), designated as SEEHN Regional Health Development Center on communicable diseases, under the framework of the project “Improving influenza program and enhancing influenza and other viral respiratory pathogens through integration of all existing surveillance systems and using one health surveillance approach”.

The main aim of the training workshop was to introduce SEE journalists and public health specialists to different approaches to risk and science communication and partnerships using examples such as the emergency challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and others.
The workshop brought together journalists and public health professionals from SEE countries to reinforce the role that media can play in a public health emergency response through accurate, ethical and responsible reporting.

Link to the video address

Digital health literacy is a public health issue that potentially creates barriers for digital transformation in health systems. This requires informed policies to be addressed in Europe and globally.

The European Union, CEI and WHO Regional Office for Europe organized the event Improving Digital Empowerment for Active Healthy Living (IDEAHL) initiative jointly. The initiative is funded by the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Commission and engages 14 European partners in the consortium coordinated by the Ministry of Health, Asturias in Spain.

The aim of IDHEAL is to empower EU Citizens in using digital tools and taking more active role in the management of their own health and well-being as well as supporting innovations for coordinated person-centered models and to create a comprehensive and inclusive EU strategy for improving digital Health Literacy – (d)HL.

It gathered around 150 virtually policymakers, representatives of national and regional authorities and other organizations across Europe, and around 70 participants in presence at the European Parliament.  

The occasion was a momentum for the European IDEAHL project to present the (d)HL mapping results that lays the foundations of the Strategy, and it will provide an illustration of (d)HL in Europe and beyond.

The meeting also used the opportunity to exchange experiences: knowledge sharing on how to empower European citizen in regards to d(HL) as a key component of the Strategy. Participants were involved in the identification of obstacles, difficulties, and areas of improvement.

Dr Dasic represented the SEEHN and its 9 member states within this block of discussions, advocating for better health and well-being in the South Eastern Europe. Digital health being one of tools that can accelerate greatly that objective. The pandemic was a turning point in the last two decades’ progress that particularly enabled all digital services. It created the set-up for a jump leap in digital services across the world, and SEE Region was not an exception.

In this respect, Dr Dasic pointed out the remaining big themes of concern common for all: the interconnectivity, data sharing, privacy and security.

She also dived into the particularities of the South Eastern Europe region, health literacy being an area requiring big efforts from both health professionals and population. Several areas of intervention that shall be envisaged to drive progress were highlighted:

1. To explore the population’s level of digital maturity and digital readiness to use healthcare services;
2. to enhance digital literacy in health-care professionals and the population at large;
3. to explore the different electronic health records interoperability as a facilitator of multidisciplinary teamwork;
4. Enhance multidisciplinary and teamwork towards integrated and networked care, aiming for cross-country cooperation;
5. leverage the full potential through digital solutions of NCDs, healthy ageing, population health management, and an optimized role for nursing within the team work.

The event was also a great opportunity of co-creation of the (d)HL Strategy: the involvement of a wide range of policymakers that represented the key element for the success of the project and the Strategy to be developed. Finally, it fosters innovations for integrated person-centered care models while also allowing EU individuals to use digital technologies and take a more active part in managing their own health and well-being.

Please find the Agenda here.

WHO Collaboration Center for Leadership and Governance in Nursing invites you
to participate in a webinar:
How to amplify the voice of Healthcare professionals
By Etti Rosenberg
March, 29^th, 2023
15:00-16:00
(GMT +2)  (UTC +2)  (CET -1)
The lecture is in English
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82017432797?pwd=TEFmeUdITDBXRGFPamxVRXhLejlTQT09
Meeting ID: 820 1743 2797
Passcode: 484657

Madam First Lady, Representatives of Ministry of Health of North Macedonia, Ambassadors of the SEEHN member states, representatives of partner organizations and dear SEEHN friends gathered today in Member’s of Parliament Club in Skopje to celebrate the 10th anniversary from the Inauguration of the Seat of the Secretariat of the SEE Health Network in Skopje.
“Today the SEEHN Secretariat is a fully functional administrative body, with experienced personnel dedicated to its main goal, which is to ensure better health and well-being among the peoples of the SEE region. It also provides space and support to each member state, partner, organization, and each person involved to move forward.”, said Dr Mira Jovanovski Dasic, Director of the SEEHN Secretariat
“The Republic of North Macedonia recognized the importance of such regional cooperation in health and has been part of this success story from the very beginning. Ten years ago the Agreement for the Seat of the Secretariat of the SEE Health Network was ratified and North Macedonia became the host country of the SEEHN Secretariat. The Secretariat became the leader of a new era in the development of the SEEHN Network by providing support for the successful functioning of all the member states activities through the voice of their professionals and experts, by translating their proposals for mutual cooperation into reality”, emphasized the Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of North Macedonia, Dr Maja Manoleva

Guests also enjoyed the short video presenting the development of the Network and Secretariat, available here.

The regional Health Diplomacy Course: Building health resilience in SEE Region through bridging science, policy and diplomacy to advance the SDG Agenda Diplomacy course: Health Unites People, co-organized by SEE Health Network, Ministry of Health of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute, co-financed by the Central European Initiative, started on Monday, November 28, 2022, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The participants of the course were addressed by:

• Prof. Plamen Dimitrov, Director of the Bulgarian National Center of Public Health and Analyses, and Head of the Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Center, SEEHN National Health Coordinator Alternate,
• Dr. Mira Jovanovski Dasic, Director, SEEHN Secretariat,
• Mrs. Tanya Mihaylova, Director, Diplomatic Institute to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria,
• Mr. Gian Matteo Apuzzo, PhD, Senior Programme Manager, Focal Point for Health Strategies and Emergencies response, CEI,
• Dr. Skender Syla, WHO Representative and Head of Country Office to Bulgaria.

Recent years have been increasingly challenging, revealing the increased urgency to address global health as a defining pillar of the worldwide architecture and agenda, with global health diplomacy as a defining tool in this process.

However, successful health diplomacy is not only based on public health knowledge and evidence; therefore, building and strengthening core competencies in the theory and practice of diplomacy is a core direction for global and regional health investment.

The health diplomacy course is part of the SEEHN regional activities dedicated to strengthening the capacities of the representatives of its member states to tackle the emerging global health challenges.

The three-day initiative focuses on bridging health policy, science and diplomacy for better health outcomes in the SEE region.

Over 45 senior-level participants from the health and diplomatic fields of SEEHN member states attend insightful presentations delivered by experts from the Graduate Institute for International Affairs and Development, Geneva, Switzerland, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Debrecen, Hungary.

Specific issues addressed in the course include the basics of global health diplomacy, such as governance, actors, multilateral interactions and dimensions of global health diplomacy, negotiation tools and frameworks, protocol and etiquette. The sessions will also consider challenges related to lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, WHO’s international tool on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, and interactions between regional and global health diplomacy. The course is delivered through lectures, informal discussions, and negotiation exercises.

Mira Jovanovski Dasic, Head of the South-eastern Europe Health Network, joins the latest episode of #TheGasteinConversations to share her #EHFG impressions and memories.

#EHFG25Years

🔊 Listen here ⤵️