In a three-day strategic dialogue, Belgium and WHO reviewed progress in their longstanding partnership, and agreed to further boost their collaboration on universal health coverage, health-systems strengthening and equitable access to essential vaccines, medicines and health technologies.
The Belgian delegation – headed by H.E. Christophe Payot, Ambassador of Belgium to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva – discussed issues of strategic importance, exchanged views on how to smoothly align WHO strategic directions and Belgium's development cooperation priorities in the context of an evolving global health landscape.
In a three-day strategic dialogue, Belgium and WHO reviewed progress in their longstanding partnership, and agreed to further boost their collaboration on universal health coverage, health-systems strengthening and equitable access to essential vaccines, medicines and health technologies.
The Belgian delegation – headed by H.E. Christophe Payot, Ambassador of Belgium to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva – discussed issues of strategic importance, exchanged views on how to smoothly align WHO strategic directions and Belgium's development cooperation priorities in the context of an evolving global health landscape.
The partners exchanged updates on Belgium's support to global health areas brought in the spotlight during the Belgian presidency of Council of the European Union in 2024. WHO was represented by leadership and technical experts from Headquarters and from the Regional Offices for Africa and for Europe.
"After listening to the leaders and experts of WHO we now better understand how they are navigating these challenging times", said Mr Koen Van Acoleyen, Minister Counselor at the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the UN. "We are honoured that we can walk this road together."Accelerating equitable access to vaccines, medicines and health technologiesThe partners reviewed the current status and the most noticeable results achieved by the Access to Medicines programme funded by Belgium. WHO illustrated its work and challenges with an example of country-level implementation in Senegal. It also explained WHO's policies and work on equitable access and local production. Both parties recognized a shared goal for sustainability of the Access to Medicines initiative, as market shaping is key to ensure long-term success.Health emergencies and pandemic prevention, preparedness and responseDiscussions covered WHO's role in strengthening the global architecture for health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience, including the pandemic agreement negotiations and the One Health approach. WHO's crucial field work on health emergency response was demonstrated by presenting the activities in Gaza. The debate also touched upon threats posed by acceleration of biological risks and zoonoses, along with WHO engagement, in particular, risk mitigation.Universal Health Coverage (UHC)Elaborating on progress made on UHC-Partnership, the participants reviewed results achieved by WHO with Belgium support in the period 2021-2024, specifically in Belgium's partner countries. They discussed the way forward, exploring the potential for enhanced collaboration at country level, including eventual alignment between WHO country office programmes and Belgium's country level bilateral cooperation. Examples included a summary of the work and challenges at country level from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
