Copenhagen, 27 April 2023

Ever stronger collaboration on a spread of well being points underpinned the primary official go to to the WHO Regional Office for Europe by Dr Péter Tak á cs, Hungary’s State Secretary for Health who assumed workplace virtually a 12 months in the past.

Discussions with WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, on the 26 April one-day assembly coated various themes, at a time when Hungary goals to embark on vital modifications in well being care to broaden its efforts to make sure well being for all.

“The COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed Hungary, as it did the rest of Europe and indeed our entire world, that we cannot take our health systems for granted, including primary health care,” mentioned Dr Takács. “From the lessons learned amid the crisis, we can and must strengthen health resources, infrastructure and delivery, harnessing technology and innovation to better serve our population, while also nurturing our health and care workforce.”

“This is a day and age of permacrisis, with multiple and often overlapping health and humanitarian emergencies,” famous Dr Kluge. “From emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19 to long-running stubborn diseases like tuberculosis and HIV, from the ravages of the climate crisis and its impacts on health to the health-care workforce crisis that’s rocking our Region, we have to adopt a dual track approach. This means preparing better for the emergencies we know lie ahead, even while we strengthen essential, everyday health services and systems. WHO/Europe looks forward to collaborating with Hungary on this.”

The agenda of the dialogue included:

• strategizing on the upcoming seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, hosted by Hungary in Budapest on 5–7 July, the place governments and civil society companions will talk about the well being impacts of the local weather disaster and different environmental well being elements, feeding into regional collaboration;
• strengthening efforts to deal with antimicrobial resistance, a difficulty of immense concern throughout the WHO European Region and globally;
• operationalizing the One Health strategy, which brings collectively the well being of people, animals and the setting, recognizing how linked every is to the opposite;
• increasing digital well being and synthetic intelligence well being initiatives in Hungary to generate extra sturdy well being information, and obtain extra environment friendly and cost-effective options in reaching a larger variety of sufferers;
• investing within the well being and care workforce, to deal with long-term challenges that got here to the fore amid the pandemic, together with burnout and different points affecting health-care suppliers;
• thanking Hungary for having acquired refugees from Ukraine amid the relentless battle there, now in its second 12 months, offering important providers together with entry to well being care;
• voicing WHO’s assist to Hungary because it prepares to imagine the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

“The WHO Country Office in Hungary works closely with WHO/Europe to support the Hungarian health authorities and health system,” mentioned WHO Representative to Hungary, Dr Haris Hajrulahovic. “We truly appreciate our close working relationship with the government and other health stakeholders, now and always.”