From 21-25 November 2016, 20 public health experts met in Bellagio, Italy to develop a way forward to assist countries strengthen public health practice as a way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Participating institutions included leadership of WHO including the Regional Director of EMRO, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research at WHO, CDC, USAID, International Association of National Public Health Institutes as well as Johns Hopkins University, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FioCruz), and Makerere University. Officials from Ministries of Health of Mozambique, India, Sri Lanka, and Qatar attended. This meeting aims to help Ministries of Health, NGOs, and development partners around the world put into practice the World Health Assembly Resolution 69.1 which was unanimously agreed to in May 2016. This resolution calls for Member States and international organizations to work on ways to improve performance of Essential Public Health Functions at national, state and local level.
The meeting developed case studies, tools and instruments and updated performance measurement approaches to align with a continuous quality improvement approach that emphasizes empowering local communities to act on health problems. The meeting shared best practices and protocols for supportive supervision to sustain highly effective public health practice in health systems.
The participants already produced a YouTube playlist of lectures and a curated library of documentation of practical experience, checklists, and measurement methods.
Later this year the group will release a White Paper offering a blueprint for use by public health agencies, ministries, development partners, and practitioners with guidance on strengthening public health practice. The conference was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, and the Future Health Systems consortium which is supported by DFID.