The Pan-European Leadership Academy (ELA) Tier 2 Demonstration Project closed last week in Copenhagen, focusing on building health leadership for the future and supporting health leadership today. Over the past few months, eight mid-level experts from health ministries and related agencies in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have collaborated with WHO/European colleagues on specific technical deliverables to be implemented.
The project aims to strengthen relationships, prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), public health workforces, behavioral and cultural insights, global standards, and collaborations across various technical fields. Specific initiatives include implementing Providing health screening information (ICD-11), expanding access to rehabilitation services and assistive technology, enhancing communicable disease monitoring and reporting, improving delivery of specialized care, and One Health approach to zoonotic diseases.
Dr. Hans-Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, expressed gratitude to the participants for their dedication to their countries and people. Gabriel Jacob, Special Advisor and Leader of the WHO/European Transformation and Institutional Development, ELA project, emphasized the importance of the peer-to-peer component in supporting immediate technical delivery at the country level.
Representing the group in her closing statement, Diana Andreasian (Armenia) said that the project had equipped them with skills, knowledge, and ambitious ideas and projects to be realized in cooperation with one another. The first and second ELA projects will undergo a full evaluation, with the results to be reported to Member States at the 73rd meeting of the WHO European Regional Commission in Astana in October 2023.