2014 will be very intensive for the SEE Health Network

The Extraordinary Meeting of the SEE Health Network Executive committee just finished two days of intensive, constructive and very productive meeting with numerous decisions.

The meeting took place in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia and was hosted by the Ministry of Health with an excellent organization for which we extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation! It was very well prepared by the SEEHN Secrtariat with the solid support of all its members, WHO Regional Office for Europe, the SEE RHDCs and the RCC.






Below is the list of the main decisions:

1. The financial report of the SEEHN for 2013 was approved;
2. The workplan and working budget for 2014 were approved;
3. The SEEHN Presidency and Executive Committee will submit both the 2013 Financial and technical reports and the 2014 Worklan and budget to the 10 Ministers of Health for their concent!
4. The implementation of the SEE 2020 Strategy by the SEEHN was discussed and the timetable of the immediate actions was agreed; the RCC will support the first meeting of the SEEHN ExCom and technical Working Group on 3-4 March 2014 at the RCC premises in Sarajevo; the meeting will work on the health targets and indicators for monitoring and evaluation of the SEE 2020 Strategy; the potential flagship initiatives; the SEEHN own activities in 2014-2019 to implement the four health objectives and measures that are part of the Inclusive Growth pillar of the SEE 2020, and, finally, the support to the involvement of the Ministries of Health of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and Serbia in the processes, at national level, of developing and endorsing the National 2020 growth Strategies and Action Plans which will be under the leadership of the respective Ministries of Economy; with this developments the Ministries of Health will be able to work horizontally with all other relevant governmental sectors and to place health as a contributor to inclusiveness, growth, creating jobs, increasing productivity, economic development and well-being; thus, the Ministries of health will have a real opportunity to implement in practice their commitments to the WHO Europe Health 2020 Policy Framework and to improve governance for health and well-being;
5. Proposals for ammendments to the SEEHN Memorandum of Understanding (2008) were agreed and in the coming month the draft document will be formally consulted with the 10 Governments for approval;
6. The draft Protocol on the Procedures of the SEE RHDC was discussed and will be distributed for final consultation with the objective to be approved during the forthcoming 33rd Plenary of the SEEHN under the Romanian Presidency in Bucharest in June 2014;
7. The concept for the SEEHN Communication Strategy and the future SEEHN Website were approved and the Secretariat was instructed to start the design and creation with the objective that its is presented for final approval by the 33rd Plenary in Bucharest before launching it live;
8. The concept, programme, modules, participants, trainers, SEE case studies and other important detailes for a new Health Diplomacy Course for over 50 participants to be held in 2014 were approved and will be organized by September 2014 with the kind support of the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development;
9. The list of potential regional multicountry events on important for the SEEHN health and health system topics were approved and will be submitted to the EC TAIEX Instrument for support in 2014 under the already intensive cooperation process; 
10. Initial ideas were exchanged for the preparation for the next 4th Forum of the SEE Ministers of Health to be held in 2015; a Working Group, led by the Romanian Presidency, will develop the first concept to be discussed in Bucharest in June 2014 so that the next Presidencies in 2014 and 2015 could take it forward and organize the 4rth Ministerial Forum; the hosting country is still to be decided based on proposals to come from the SEEHN Member States;
11. ... and many more!

The full Report with all decisions will be posted in the coming week!

It is time for action and implementation!


Dr. Maria Ruseva
On behalf of the SEEHN Executive Committee
Belgrade, 31 January 2014