Review of the commitments of WHO European Member States and the WHO Regional Office for Europe between 1990 and 2010: analysis in the light of the Health 2020 strategy

ABSTRACT

This study provides an overview and analysis of the commitments made by the WHO European Member States and the WHO Regional Office for Europe between 1990 and 2010 in WHO Regional Committee for Europe resolutions on technical matters (82 documents); policy statements adopted at ministerial conferences convened by the Regional Office (13 documents); and three legally binding WHO instruments adopted at the global or regional levels the International Health Regulations, the Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The study was undertaken to accompany and facilitate the preparation of the Health 2020 strategy and its upcoming implementation. It aimed at identifying existing commitments that could be referred to and at facilitating the preparation and adoption of the strategy. It also aimed at identifying public health areas that have been scarcely addressed in the past and need more attention in designing and implementing the Health 2020 strategy. This publication was tabled as a background document for the discussion on Health 2020 a European policy framework supporting action across government and society for health and well-being during the Sixty-second session of the Regional Committee for Europe, Malta, 10–13 September 2012.