Francesco Zambon about the 25th Annual Meeting of the WHO RHN
13 December 2018
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“Many elements will make the 25th Annual Meeting in Euregion Meuse-Rhine in June 2019 a special one.
Two of them stands out for me.
The first one is having equity as the leitmotiv for the entire event. We all aspire to live in equitable societies, as equity promotes cohesive societies, economic growth, healthier societies.
But how does it happen in practice? What is the role that policy makers and decision makers at the regional level, and that citizens can and need to have for the achievement of more equitable societies?
This will all be addressed in the Euregion Meuse-Rhine related events, based on the latest available knowledge from the WHO Health Equity Status Report, the first of its kind developed globally, which will be released in March 2019.
The other theme, which makes next year’s meeting unique, is the role that citizens will play.
We are – fortunately – moving away from the concepts of citizens as passive recipients of policies and interventions.
We are, instead, moving towards policies and interventions which are evidence-informed, technically-driven and citizens-centered.
Citizens are proactively involved from policy design to full implementation. Participatory processes are at the core of “healthy policy making” and essential elements for the achievement of the ambitious Sustainable Development Agenda.”
Francesco Zambon, MD, PhD, MBA Coordinator,
Investment for Health and Development in Healthy Settings
World Health Organization
European Office for Investment for Health and Development
