European Programme of Work 2020-2025

The European Programme of Work, 2020–2025 – “United Action for Better Health in Europe” (EPW) was developed through a process of extensive consultation with Member States, the European Commission, non-State actors, intergovernmental and United Nations organizations, as well as WHO staff. Following the recommendation of the Twenty-seventh Standing Committee of the Regional Committee for Europe, it was adopted by Member States at the 70th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in September 2020.

The first EPW set priorities for 2020 to 2025, from the starting point of what citizens in the Region legitimately expect from their health authorities. Then and now, people want their authorities to guarantee their right to universal access to quality care without fear of financial hardship; they want them to offer effective protection against health emergencies; and they want to be able to thrive in healthy communities, where public health actions and appropriate public policies secure a better life in an economy of well-being. People have increasingly – and rightly – held their health authorities to account for meeting those expectations.

The EPW set out a vision of how the WHO/Europe could support health authorities in Member States to rise to that challenge, in each country and collectively in the Region.

The development of the EPW’s vision started before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Region so fiercely. This crisis obviously mandated course corrections, which were integrated into this strategy.  The first EPW was not an exhaustive enumeration of WHO/Europe’s normative and technical work. Rather, it focused on those aspects that constituted a departure from a mere continuation of business as usual, given the radically changed context under which WHO continues to operate. 

While recognizing that every WHO region has its particular challenges, opportunities and priorities, the first EPW demonstrated how the work of the WHO/Europe could best contribute to the global vision set out in WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work, 2019–2023 (GPW 13), and  GPW 14. It aligned the work of WHO/Europe with the triple billion targets, while supporting countries in their commitments to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-Being for All.