Stability Pact: Press Releases

19 November 2002, Brussels (back to news list)

The Dubrovnik Pledge bears Fruit – Public Health Improvements turn into Reality

Inadequate delivery of health services throughout Southeastern Europe remains a serious obstacle to the region's progress. Under the auspices of the Initiative for Social Cohesion of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, the fifth South Eastern Europe Health Network meeting was held on 14-16 November 2002 in Belgrade. The Federal Secretary of Health of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Council of Europe, and the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe jointly hosted the meeting.

The project lead countries presented progress reports on four of the regional project in implementation, developed to meet priority health needs, as defined at the Health Ministers Forum Dubrovnik in September 2001.

With regard to the activities on Food Protection and Nutrition Services, special links with the agricultural field and the strengthening of a free trade market were identified.
The development of Control and Surveillance of Communicable Diseases mechanism will enhance the outreach to the most vulnerable groups in the Region and also further human mobility in general.
The significant impact of the Mental Health project in fostering reconciliation and social cohesion, especially in post war countries were highlighted. Under the forthcoming Greek Presidency of the European Union, the Greek government will host a conference with Ministerial participation focusing on mental health.
In the field of Public Health, curricula were developed on master degrees in public health including those on Human Rights and Ethics and Environmental and Occupational Health. Modalities to best utilise the capacities of a renewed School of Public Health in the region were proposed.

Underpinning the discussions were the participants conclusions on the link between macroeconomics and progress in the area of Health, especially in the current transition process. There was a consensus that poverty reduction and human development hinge on this linkage. Although progress has been made within the networks, to continue harmonisation of legislative frameworks and standards upgrade within European Union and international standards is essential also because of the commitment and determination of the SEE countries to European Union integration.

Based on experience from EU Candidate countries, there is a need to initiate early reform programmes; thus the urgency for the governments to prioritise the modernisation of the health system and convey this message in the various forums in order to enhance efforts in this domain. Salient points of the discussions were the need to improve resources and expertise. The importance for strengthening the IT system, data exchange and enhance information campaigns were also stressed. Thus, the possibility to establish ad-hoc regional co-ordination centres.

The aim of the meeting was for the representatives of the South East Europe countries to review and evaluate the projects launched within the Initiative, establish a monitoring mechanism and outline a future work plan. Government officials and experts of the Ministries of Health of all the countries beneficiary of the Stability Pact were present. For the first time Moldova participated in the network alongside with representatives of donor countries and International Organisations.

The conference also discussed the most pressing needs for increased technical assistance, particularly in the areas of institutional and capacity building, as well as equipment upgrade. Regional co-operation, to maximise the available resources, exchange expertise and best practise and enhance cost effectiveness will remain a priority.

For further information, please contact Patrizia MAURO
Tel: +32 (2) 401 61 59 E-mail: patrizia.mauro@stabilitypact.org