WHO/Europe and its European Centre for Primary Health Care will host a retreat for the Universal Health Coverage Partnership (UHC Partnership) countries on 27–28 February in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event will gather 60 WHO colleagues to strategize for greater impact in the 9 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan
Participants will include WHO representatives, health policy advisers, national programme officers and WHO/Europe colleagues. Together they will focus on key technical priorities such as primary health care (PHC), the health workforce and health financing. The retreat will provide a platform to exchange experiences, foster cross-country learning and strategize on collaboration for impact.
The WHO European Centre for PHC will also launch Season 4 of the “Let’s Talk PHC” talk show. The discussion will centre on the role of trust in PHC transformation, drawing insights from the Tallinn Charter 15th Anniversary Health Systems Conference to inspire innovative approaches.
About the UHC Partnership
The UHC Partnership promotes a whole-of-society approach to addressing health priorities and empowering people to take part in decisions that affect their health and well-being, working with donors to deliver WHO’s support in more than 125 countries.
In the WHO European Region, support has been provided in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. In 2023 Armenia and North Macedonia were added to the portfolio. WHO’s support includes technical expertise provided by policy advisers on the ground, and funding for catalytic projects on the path towards UHC.
Technical priorities of the UHC Partnership
The thematic areas of support of the UHC Partnership include:
- PHC: strengthening service delivery through an equity-sensitive, multidisciplinary PHC approach integrated with community public health action;
- human resources: revising the numbers, skill mix and composition of human resources for health to strengthen a fit-for-purpose health workforce to support strengthened models of care;
- health financing: promoting sustainable health financing to ensure financial protection through effective coverage policies, and boosting quality and efficiency through strategic purchasing;
- accessible medicines: supporting the development and implementation of medicines policies to ensure equitable access to affordable, quality, safe and effective medicines; and
- governance: establishing governance mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability at all health system levels and to enable national health institutions to engage in strategic planning.