Public health in South-Eastern Europe - Exploring synergies

In the past decade countries in the South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) have been making big strides to reform their health systems. The SEEHN has been providing a platform to share experiences and opening doors to resources, partnerships, technical capacity and political commitment. The ability of health systems to prevent, react, mitigate and recover from emergencies and crises is a visible indicator for the functionality of the health systems. In some of the health systems in the SEEHN there are still gaps that do not allow for a smooth and a seamless ability to respond to such demanding needs. Sometimes, parts of the populations are not accessible to the health services, and in many the public health services do not have sufficient finances and capacity to carry their tasks. Potential synergies between public health services and other arms of the health systems and beyond should be strengthened in SEEHN Member States. The WHO agenda for public health, health system strengthening and Health in All Policies continue to bring together the know-how, the ideology, partnerships, resource generation and the platform for subsequent policy development and implementation.