Partnering with the EU to support health resilience in the Eastern Partnership countries
WHO/Europe is partnering with the European Union (EU) to strengthen the health systems of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, to ensure that they are better equipped to handle health emergencies and address core health challenges. This includes building a more resilient health workforce and enhanced mental health services, supported through innovative collaborations, including with the arts and culture sector.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint initiative involving the EU and these 5 partner countries. It is a strategic partnership that aims to strengthen relations between the EU, its Member States and the partner countries – including in the area of public health.
To support this effort, the “Health Resilience in the Eastern Partnership” programme – with €5.3 million in funding from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood (DG-ENEST) – focuses on 2 core priorities:
- strengthening health workforce capacities and resilience; and
- enhancing mental health systems, including governance, capacity-building and skills development for mental health professionals, as well as collaboration with the arts and culture sectors.
A third component, implemented by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) focuses on enhancing the health resilience of the EaP countries in the face of major cross-border health threats.
Key activities of the project
- Strengthening health workforce capacities: implementing policies to attract and retain health workers, enhancing education systems and improving workforce governance and planning.
- Enhancing mental health systems: advancing mental health policies, legislative reforms and skills development for health professionals to expand access to high-quality mental health services.
- Building resilience: strengthening the resilience of the health workforce by improving training, working conditions and mental health support for health workers.
- Increasing culture and health capacity: developing cross-sectoral collaboration with cultural institutions through asset mapping and training workshops to help strengthen mental health systems and workforce resilience.
WHO/Europe is 1 of 2 implementing partners for this DG-ENEST-funded project, the other being the ECDC. WHO is implementing this project over 30 months.
