A special session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe will be convened on 15 May 2023. This special session was requested by 30 Member States of the WHO European Region in a joint letter of 20 April 2023 to consider a proposal to close the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Office) in Moscow, Russian Federation, and relocate its function to Copenhagen, Denmark.

The session is being organized with guidance from the Thirtieth Standing Committee of the Regional Committee for Europe and will be chaired by Ambassador Ms Nora Kronig Romero (Switzerland), Executive President of the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe.

It will take place in a fully virtual format from 09:00 to 12:00 CEST on 15 May, with a possible extension in the afternoon, if needed.

The Regional Committee is the highest decision-making body of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region. It normally meets once a year to shape the political commitment to improving the health and health conditions of the people living in the Region and to guide the action undertaken by WHO/Europe.

A request for an urgent special session of the Regional Committee can be triggered under Rule 5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Regional Committee, which provides the possibility to convene the Regional Committee within 30 days at the request of at least 8 Member States.

This is the third time in WHO/Europe’s history that a special session of the Regional Committee for Europe will have been convened. The first special session was held on 21 May 1954 to establish WHO/Europe. In 2022, a second special session was convened on 10 May to consider the health situation in Ukraine and the wider consequences of the ongoing war on health matters in the Region and beyond.