Statement delivered by Estonia on behalf of the European Union under agenda item 5j at the WHO Regional Committee for Europe 67th session in Budapest
11.09.2017
WHO Regional
Committee for Europe 67th session
EU Statement
Agenda item
5(j): General Programme of Work
Budapest, 11 September 2017
Director General, Regional Director, Your Royal
Highness, Excellencies, Distinguished colleagues,
I am speaking on
behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The Candidate Countries Montenegro*,
Serbia* and Albania*, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process
and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Ukraine, the
Republic of Moldova and Georgia align themselves with this statement.
We would like
to commend the Secretariat for this draft concept note. We see the next GPW as
the beginning of a new chapter for WHO and for global health and we are
committed to continue working together in the coming years with WHO to make
progress on global public health.
We
particularly appreciate that this draft is produced so early during the tenure
of the new DG - and we welcome the inclusive process involving all the Regional
Committees. We would appreciate some feedback from the discussions that took
place in the AFRO and SEARO discussions.
This is a strategic document for the whole organisation as well as its
Member States and we owe it to ourselves to take the time to get it right.
Having only seen the draft document recently we are not yet in a position to go
into details of substance but we are ready to share our first impressions on
it. I am sure that individual Member States will be expanding on what I have to
say in this regard.
We remain
convinced that the world needs WHO as the
leader in global public health and a WHO that is effective, efficient and
fit-for-purpose. We see the GPW, implemented by a strong DG in a reformed
organisation as the way to achieve this.
We welcome
the suggested focus on outcomes and impact but remain curious about the
methodology to assess the contribution of WHO in achieving concrete health
outcomes. When will the announced scorecard be available?
We strongly
support the alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals – not just Goal
number three, and encourage full implementation in that regard.
We welcome
the focus on priorities. During the election campaign, we noticed an
understandable reluctance of all candidates to identify negative priorities –
now is also the time to identify what workstreams can be deprioritised.
The need to
operationalize is key! Implementation of the lessons learned from Ebola are
more relevant than ever before. Rapid, efficient and transparent responses have
to be at the core of WHO response to people in need.
We support
the need to show results at country level and consider that this should play a
key part in aligning the three levels of the organisation.
And yes,
strong leadership is important. But leadership is not inherited – it needs to
be earned and we see the track record of the new DG as a very positive force
for this in WHO.
Taking into account the importance of the process
ahead of the adoption of the GPW 13, we support the call for a special session
on this, ahead of the January EB. The EU as a whole assures you of our
willingness to engage constructively in the upcoming discussions.
Thank you.
*Montenegro,
Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association
Process.
 
|
