“Fika with NHSU and friends” is named after the Swedish tradition of coming together over coffee during working hours. This WHO initiative involves a series of weekly online meetings which aim to encourage knowledge sharing between international organizations and the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU).
The meetings provide analysis from WHO and partners on health financing and service delivery topics, as well as policy dialogue support from the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing. Following the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, WHO has been providing continuous support to the NHSU in these areas.
“This setting creates the environment for proactive enquiry and ideas for tackling challenges arising in the health sector during the war,” explains WHO Representative in Ukraine Dr Jarno Habicht, who adds, “these discussions provide fundamental steps in progressing towards universal health coverage and ensuring that the actions of the NHSU are aligned with the best practices from international institutions and other countries.”
Urgent challenges
Topics covered during the meetings include rehabilitation services in emergencies, provision of mental health services, contracting health-care providers, patient complaint management systems, and monitoring and evaluation systems of health financing institutions in Europe.
Since the beginning of the initiative in March 2022, meetings with ministries of health, purchasing agencies and related institutions in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, and Slovakia, and institutions including the World Bank and USAID, have ensured that NHSU experts are liaising with health-care experts from other countries.
The selection of topics is based on the needs of the NHSU in the light of the most urgent challenges facing them during the war, such as updating their monitoring system and preparing for the Programme of Medical Guarantees for 2023.
A permanent platform
Mariana Hladkevych, Chief of Strategic Project Management and International Cooperation at the NHSU, explains how the weekly meetings have supported and encouraged the entire team to devise new solutions to challenges based on evidence from other countries. She envisages these meetings becoming a permanent platform for the exchange of knowledge between the NHSU, international partners, and other strategic purchasing agencies.
“Holding these meetings with international partners is a sign that our work is ongoing, and we have felt supported in the process,” says Ms Hladkevych.
Financial support for the project has been provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; the European Union (EU) as part of the EU and WHO initiative on health system development in Ukraine; and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the EU as part of the EU-Luxembourg-WHO Universal Health Coverage Partnership.