Based within the Office of the Director-General at WHO’s headquarters, the Department of Country Strategy and Support (CSS) provides clear strategic direction to strengthen WHO’s work in countries. It takes a participatory approach, engaging many sectors and stakeholders – including departments and offices across WHO as well as external partners – to identify country needs and priorities and to support the achievement of national health policies, global health goals, and WHO’s own strategic priorities and goals.

The Department, together with the country support units in the regional offices and the WHO country offices, continues to pursue new opportunities to maintain countries at the centre of WHO’s work and aims to enhance the value that WHO delivers to people in countries. Our four core functions – strategic policy dialogue, country leadership, effective technical cooperation and country intelligence – reinforce the transformation of WHO’s operating model to achieve measurable impact.