WHO welcomed a Swedish delegation to Geneva on 4-5 October to discuss shared priorities in global health over the past year and look ahead to further collaboration in areas such as sexual and reproductive health rights, antimicrobial resistance and universal health coverage.
Anna Rosendahl, Head of Global Social Development for Sida, in Stockholm, led the delegation, saying:
"WHO is and will continue to be a crucial partner to Sida and Sweden when contributing to the Agenda 2030 in general and SDG 3 in particular. Values such as leave no one behind and universal health coverage are shared by both WHO and Sida and will continue to guide the work. WHO’s leading role in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights will be a main focus for collaboration."
The delegation included: Sofia Norlin-Telde, Programme Manager. Andreas Hilmersson, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Sweden in Geneva. Nina Eklund, Intern Permanent Mission of Sweden in Geneva.
The intense two-day discussions were opened by WHO’s Deputy Director General, Jane Ellison and covered WHO’s new General Programme of Work (GPW13) and Sida’s support in the current biennium in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, national health policies, universal health coverage, noncommunicable diseases and WASH initiatives.
Sweden is WHO’s top flexible donor, entrusting the organization with funds that can be invested in global health priorities to achieve SDG3 and WHO’s five-year strategic plan (the GPW13).
Over 70% of WHO funds in the last biennium were earmarked for specific activities – leading to critical gaps and making it difficult to act swiftly and scale up the response to countries’ identified or emerging needs. Thanks to flexible donors like Sweden, important areas of work receive crucial funding -- such as equity, gender and human rights so that no one is left behind, or non-communicable diseases (NCDs), thus reducing risks for diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Photo right to left: Peter Singer, WHO Senior Advisor; Jane Ellison, WHO DDG Programming; Graham McNeill, Coordinator, Resource Mobilization; Anna Rosendahl, Sida Head of Global Social Development; Sofia Norlin-Telde, Programme Manager; Andreas Hilmersson, Counsellor, MoFA; Dominique Hyde, WHO Director of Strategic Engagement; Amine Kebe, Technical Officer for Resource Mobilization