On 9 April, the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development (WHO Venice Office) will convene Italian and international ministers, mayors and decision-makers, as well as key leaders across the fields of economics, health and well-being and sustainable development, for an innovative discussion to reimagine an economy for resilient and healthier societies that leave no one behind.
The event is being held in Venice in cooperation with the host country, Italy, and will be led by WHO/Europe’s Regional Director Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge alongside the Head of the Venice Office, Christine Brown. It comes as the United Nations (UN) works to accelerate action on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to ensure all people reach their full potential in dignity and equality and within a healthy environment.
For the last 20 years, the WHO Venice Office has generated the evidence and decision-making tools to enable countries to invest in health, health equity and healthier societies, critical for cohesive, safe communities, and for enabling people to live in dignity and thrive. The WHO Venice Office supports the implementation of commitments made in WHO’s European and global health strategies, such as the 13th General Programme of Work and European Programme of Work 2020–2025, as well as in European Union (EU) and UN resolutions (see below).
The journey began in 2000 when the WHO Venice Office was established. It followed the WHO Verona Initiative on Investing for Health, which introduced a new vision for improving population health. This ground-breaking work, linking people’s living, working and learning conditions to health, was taken up by all 53 Member States of the WHO European Region. The WHO Venice Office developed new policy options, tools and metrics to enable countries to invest for health and demonstrate its contribution to local and national development.
Then, in 2008, the WHO Venice Office supported ministries of health in the Western Balkans region to put health into the regional growth and development strategy, which, for the first time, led to economic ministries being responsible for ensuring health improvement.
Building on this work, and in response to the growing health, social and economic inequities in the European Region, in 2013 WHO/Europe published the landmark “Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region”. This was closely followed by the WHO European Health Equity Status Report initiative (HESRi), which provided all countries across the Region, as well as EU and UN agencies, with unprecedented policies and interactive support tools to close health gaps (e.g. European and Italian health equity datasets).
Last year, HESRi was updated with “Transforming the health and social equity landscape: promoting socially just and inclusive growth to improve resilience, solidarity and peace”, which included impact assessment recovery plans and 5 ways to ensure these build back heathier and more resilient societies for all to enjoy.
In light of austerity measures and budget cuts implemented across the Region, the WHO Venice Office launched a new service for the health sector to dispel the myth that health is a cost to society – national assessments, conversely, show the health sector is key to every country’s economy.
2 big consequences of the recent COVID-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis have been the rise in gender-based violence and rising levels of poor mental health. Across the WHO European Region, 1 out of 4 women aged 15–49 experiences intimate partner violence, with emergency settings increasing the risk of sexual violence. The WHO Venice Office has provided training to more than 2000 medical professionals on how to prevent and respond to gender based-violence.
In response to the differing health priorities in countries, the WHO Venice Office is supporting 41 regional authorities through the Regions for Health Network (RHN) and 11 small countries through the Small countries initiative (SCI) to ensure technological and social innovations enable people to live healthily in thriving societies through the equitable access of goods and services.
Through the WHO European Well-being Economy initiative, the WHO Venice Office is leading the way on building new alliances between the finance, economy and health sectors to find common ground on new investments, strategies and approaches to address the mental health and inclusion of young people, ageing, unbalanced development and gender equality.
The intended impact of the event will be to demonstrate how to reimagine the economy and the common ground for action by:
- forging new partnerships between sectors and stakeholders that have not traditionally collaborated, such as the health, finance and economic sectors, to implement transformative solutions that address significant health and development challenges, including aging societies, youth mental health, gender equality, resilient public systems and urban-rural divides;
- having WHO/Europe assist governments to leverage new investments, strategies and approaches, including gender budgeting and social impact investment, to fund the transition to well-being economies, while maximizing co-benefits for multiple sectors;
- enabling public and private entitles to transform their practices to deliver high-trust, cohesive and equitable societies and lay the foundations for fiscal stability, healthy populations and a resilient society; and
- facilitating the exchange of innovations and knowledge from healthy cities and regions to enable governments to accelerate national progress.
The solutions discussed at this event will inform Member States, partners and WHO in the practical implementation of commitments to accelerate health equity and sustainable development in the WHO European Region. This includes the WHO Roadmap for Action on gender equality, human rights, and health equity; Global Programme of Work and European Programme of Work; United Nations Summit of the Future (Our Common Agenda); Roadmap towards better health in small countries and regions; findings of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health For All, and the European Union (EU) Council Conclusions on the Economy of Well-being.
Key speakers include:
- Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe;
- Orazio Schillaci, Minister of Health, Italy;
- Eluned Morgan, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Wales, and WHO Champion for the European Well-being Economy Initiative;
- Frank Vandenbroucke, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Belgium;
- Alexei Buzu, Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Republic of Moldova;
- Mónica Garcia Gómez, Minister of Health, Spain;
- Iskender Asykulov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Commerce, Kyrgyzstan; and
- Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Founding Director, University College London (UCL) Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and Chair, WHO Council on Economics of Health for All.