FYI

Dear Sir or Madam,

Referring to the below communication, we would like to provide you with the most recent updates on meetings for parliamentarians taking place during the 72nd session of the World Health Assembly, and in the WHO Regional Office for Europe

1. WHA 72 - Two events will be organized specifically for parliamentarians, and will take place during the Seventy-second World Health Assembly as follows:

1. WHA Technical briefing, 23 May, 12.30-14.00, Room XVI, Palais des Nations – Formal event within the WHA agenda – organized in collaboration with the IPU
2. Parliamentary Lunch-time Seminar on UHC (by invitation only), 24 May, 12.30-14.30, Salle Concordia, Palais des Nations – Informal event, for parliamentarians only – co-organized by WHO-IPU-HRP

2. Preparatory Meeting for European Parliamentarians, July 2019: CALL FOR INTEREST 

The WHO Regional office for Europe is to hold a Preparatory meeting, taking place at UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark, 9-10  July 2019, to discuss the further development of a European Network of Parliamentarians.

This meeting aims to bring together a small number of  Parliamentarians from the European Region to work with the secretariat on legal and governance issues of the network, modality of working (incl. the frequency of meetings), and potential thematic areas for collaboration.  The recommendations and conclusions of this preparatory meeting will form the basis of the Technical Briefing for Parliamentarians that is planned to take place during the 69th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC69).

Enclosed please find the proposed agenda for this preparatory meeting.

Through this email, we are seeking expressions of interest from those of you who wish to attend this preparatory meeting.  We would appreciate hearing back from you no later than 24 May so that we can issue the official letter of invitation to the preparatory meeting to all those who have expressed an interest in attending. 

Kindly confirm your interest to Dr Lucianne Licari (licaril@who.int with copy to fuentesg@who.int, eusrc@who.int ).

Sincerely yours,

Dr Lucianne Licari

Director, Country Support and Communications

Regional Director's Office

World Health Organization, Regional office for Europe

UN City

Marmorvej 51

Copenhagen DK2100

Denmark

Tel No +45 4533 6763

Email  licaril@who.int

Skype who-licaril1

Dear Sir or Madam,

We have received an overwhelmingly positive response to the proposed initiative to set up a European Parliamentary Network, for which we are extremely grateful. We in the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and Ambassador Oksana Domenti from the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Moldova, who originally promoted the idea of having this informal discussion with European Parliamentarians, have taken note of all those of you who have kindly confirmed your support for and interest in this initiative. As you may already have understood, we are in the very early stages of this process and will keep you informed of discussions and meetings as we progress with the work.

In the meantime, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we have now received confirmation that the following two events, organized specifically for parliamentarians, will be taking place during the Seventy-second World Health Assembly in May 2019:

• On 23 May, WHO headquarters aim at organizing a Breakfast Parliamentary Forum to discuss the role of Parliaments in moving ahead the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda at country level using the IPU resolution as starting point.  The aim is to have a Davos-style event with quick interventions by speakers followed by participation from the floor.  We are envisaging 3 parts: the first with keynote speakers by IPU and WHO to set the scene; the second with the introduction on the IPU resolution, followed by country experiences focused on particular aspects of UHC; the third is the voices of the regions to report back on consultations done at regional level and to start discussing on the way forward in terms of implementation.  This event is open to all participants to the World Health Assembly (Concept Note attached).

• On 23 May, after the Forum, WHO headquarters will have an informal lunch only for Parliamentarians, by invitation only, to have a more in-depth discussion on how the IPU global resolution can be translated into concrete actions at national and regional levels.

Based on the above, and in agreement with Ambassador Domenti, the informal discussion for European Parliamentarians planned for the same day (23 May) is therefore being cancelled to enable those of you joining your delegations to the World Health Assembly to attend these events. If you are not already officially part of your country’s delegation, we would encourage you to reach out to your ministry of health with a request to be included (please note that the WHO Director-General issued a letter to ministers of health encouraging them to include parliamentarians in delegations to this year’s World Health Assembly).

We will inform you of any further developments, discussions or meetings as we continue to take this initiative forward.

We look forward to seeing you in Geneva, and to a fruitful collaboration with you in the future.

Sincerely yours,

Dr Lucianne Licari

Director, Country Support and Communications

Regional Director's Office

World Health Organization, Regional office for Europe

UN City

Marmorvej 51

Copenhagen DK2100

Denmark

Tel No +45 4533 6763

Email  licaril@who.int

Skype who-licaril1

Dear Sir or Madam,

Parliamentarians, by their very nature, play an essential role in the design and promotion of health policy in every country through the instruments they have at their disposal: enacting legislation, adopting the budget, monitoring and oversight of policy implementation. Members of parliament are uniquely positioned to act as an interface between the people, local authorities and state institutions in promoting better health for all. However, there is still a gap between the governments’ global/regional health policy commitments and the parliamentarians’ awareness and political support for these commitments. Moreover, there is a need to strengthen collaboration between parliamentarians across the European region as well as between parliamentarians and the WHO and other organisations acting on health. For this purpose, it is proposed to establish, with the support of WHO, a network of parliamentarians on health with the aim to raise awareness about the global health agenda and the need for coordinated action at the national and international levels, through a collaborative approach to mobilize political will for better promoting and protecting health and wellbeing.

In order to start preparatory discussions and brainstorming in preparation for the larger meeting of Parliamentarians from the WHO European Region, which is planned to take place during the 69th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC69) in Copenhagen, Denmark, we would like to organize a preparatory meeting on the side of the 72^nd World Health Assembly (WHA72), Geneva, Switzerland.  To this end, we would like to encourage you to join your delegations attending the WHA72, and to come meet with us at this meeting that will take place on 23 May, 2019, during the lunch break (light lunch will be served, venue to be confirmed).  Furthermore, we would appreciate contact details of other parliamentarians from your country (with a special interest in health issues), that would be interested to attend any parliamentary meetings of this new network.

Kindly confirm your participation and interest to this meeting to Dr Lucianne Licari (licaril@who.int with copy to fuentesg@who.int, eusrc@who.int ), on or before 26 April 2019.  The programme and background documentation will be sent to you once you confirm your participation.

Sincerely yours,

Dr Lucianne Licari

Director, Country Support and Communications

Regional Director's Office

World Health Organization, Regional office for Europe

UN City

Marmorvej 51

Copenhagen DK2100

Denmark

Tel No +45 4533 6763

Email  licaril@who.int

Skype who-licaril1

Уважаемая госпожа, уважаемый господин,

Депутаты парламентов в силу своего рода деятельности играют ключевую роль в выработке и продвижении политики здравоохранения в каждой стране, используя такие имеющиеся в их распоряжении инструменты, как законодательные акты, утверждение бюджета и надзор за реализацией политики. Они обладают уникальной возможностью выступать в качестве связующего звена между гражданами, местными органами власти и государственными учреждениями в деле улучшения здоровья для всех. Вместе с тем, по-прежнему сохраняется разрыв между обязательствами правительств в отношении политики здравоохранения на глобальном и региональном уровне и осведомленностью об этих обязательствах и их поддержкой со стороны депутатов. Следует далее развивать сотрудничество между депутатами парламентов из разных стран Европейского региона и между депутатами и ВОЗ и другими организациями в сфере здравоохранения. В этих целях предлагается сформировать состоящую из депутатов парламентов сеть по вопросам здравоохранения при поддержке ВОЗ, которая будет способствовать повышению осведомленности о глобальной повестке дня в области здравоохранения и о потребности в слаженных совместных действиях на национальном и международном уровне для мобилизации политической воли в поддержку укрепления и защиты здоровья и благополучия.

В преддверии совещания для депутатов парламентов из стран Европейского региона ВОЗ, которое состоится во время шестьдесят девятой сессии Европейского регионального комитета ВОЗ (РК-69) в Копенгагене (Дания), мы намерены провести в рамках Семьдесят второй сессии Всемирной ассамблеи здравоохранения (ВАЗ-72) в Женеве (Швейцария) подготовительную встречу для всестороннего обсуждения актуальных вопросов.  В связи с этим мы предлагаем Вам присоединиться к делегации Вашей страны на ВАЗ-72 и принять участие в вышеуказанной встрече, которая пройдет 23 мая 2019 г. во время обеденного перерыва (будут подаваться легкие закуски, место проведения уточняется).  Более того, мы просим сообщить нам контактные данные других депутатов парламента из Вашей страны, имеющих отношение к вопросам здравоохранения, которые были бы заинтересованы в том, чтобы принять участие в совещаниях вышеупомянутой сети.

О намерении принять участие в вышеуказанной встрече просьба сообщить д-ру Lucianne Licari (licaril@who.int), с копией для г-жи Gabriela Fuentes (fuentesg@who.int, eusrc@who.int ), не позднее 26 апреля 2019 г.  Программа и справочные материалы будут направлены Вам после того, как Вы подтвердите участие в совещании.

С уважением,

Д-р Lucianne Licari

Директор, Поддержка стран и коммуникация