Forthcoming events: Next SEE Health network Regional Workshop on Human Resources for Health to take place on 10-11 November 2014 in Ljubljana Slovenia

A sustainable and well-performing health workforce is the backbone of an effective health system. The need to address health workforce challenges in countries and introduce mechanisms to improve and promote relevant health workforce policies is well recognized and stands high on the political agenda of all South-Eastern Europe Health Network Member States.

A commitment to the health workforce development was reaffirmed by several SEE Ministerial forums. In 2013, the SEEHNRegionalHealthDevelopmentCenter on human resources for health (SEEHN Health Workforce Observatory) was established,hosted by the Republic of Moldova. Accordingly, strengthening human resources for health has been identified as one of the key strategic actions of the health dimension in the Inclusive Growth Pillar of the recently approved SEE 2020 Strategy “Jobs and Prosperity in the European Perspective.”

In the past few years, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Commission TAIEX Programme organized and convened a number of technical meetings for policy makers and researchers from SEEHN countries to contribute to the evidence on health workforce in the region, to facilitate exchange of information and experiences gained in countries, and to strengthen national capacity in addressing health workforce challenges.

In November 2014, the SEEHN Regional Health Development Center on HRH, in collaboration with and under the technical guidance of the WHO Regional Office for Europe and with the support of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, is organizing a workshop for national focal points on HRH, policy-makers and researchers dealing with health workforce issues.

The purpose of the workshop is to take stock of recent evidence on effective health workforce strategies in order to increasetechnical capacity in SEE Health Network countries and to strategize their collaborative efforts to support effective and sustainable health workforce development in the SEE region.

The specific objectives of the workshop are: 

• To review current progress and challenges in the health workforce development in SEE Health Network countries, including the implementation of the WHO Code of Practice
• To share country experiences and lessons learnt in addressing health workforce challengesin Europe with a focus on health workforce mobility
• To start a discussion aimed at developing a SEE Health Network strategy and an action plan on strengthening human resources for health (2014-2020) in line with the SEEHN Decision and the SEE 2020 Strategy
• To further promote and scale up technical collaboration and knowledge exchange on human resources for health within SEEHN countries and relevant partners.

Expected outcomes:

• Better understanding of policy mechanisms that may be put in place to address health workforce challenges in SEEHN countries and beyond.
• Draft outline of a SEE Health Network strategy and action plan on strengthening human resources for health
• Strengthened political commitment in SEEHN countries for intergovernmental and intersectoral collaboration to support effective and sustainable health workforce development

This workshop is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Health of Slovenia and co-sponsored by the Technical Programme on Human Resources for Health (HRH) at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen.