WHO European Region Member States adopt new vision for resilient and sustainable health systems

The 53 Member States of the WHO European Region have adopted a new framework on resilient and sustainable health systems, marking a significant shift in the vision for health delivery across the Region. Building on the Tallinn Charter: Health Systems for Health and Wealth, and on the 2023 Tallinn outcome statement, the new framework is a blueprint for countries to adopt and set out a transformational agenda for strengthening health systems, ensuring that they are resilient, sustainable, and responsive to the diverse needs of populations in a rapidly changing global landscape.

The framework, developed in close consultation with Member States and civil society and officially adopted at the 74th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, outlines a new vision where every person has "access to the right care, at the right time, in the right place, from the right person, without experiencing financial hardship". It emphasizes the critical need for relationships of trust in health systems, quality care delivered by motivated and supported health-care professionals, and the importance of health systems adapting to future challenges, including rising multimorbidities, mental health burdens, and the ongoing impacts of climate change.

"The adoption of this framework marks a new chapter for health systems in Europe and central Asia," said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "Our goal is to help countries to transform their health systems to meet the needs of their populations in a rapidly changing world, while maintaining equity, solidarity, and trust as core principles."

Shaping responsive systems

The framework addresses the complex, interlinked crises that health systems face in the post-pandemic era, including workforce shortages, rising antimicrobial resistance, and the financial pressures exerted by economic downturns and conflicts. The aim is to promote the adoption of innovative approaches, well-regulated technologies such as artificial intelligence and genomics, where needed, and to reshape outdated care models, ensuring that health-care delivery is more person-centred and closer to home - with trust at its heart.

"True transformation can only happen when patients, health professionals, and policy-makers work together in synergy," said Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems at WHO/Europe. "By engaging patients in their care, supporting health professionals, and enabling policy-makers to shape responsive systems, we can ensure that health systems evolve to meet the demands of the present and the future."

In line with the outcome statement of the 2023 Tallinn Health Systems Conference, this new framework recognizes health systems as integral to national socioeconomic fabrics, essential for individual and population well-being, social cohesion, and economic prosperity.

The new vision is built around 8 action areas, ranging from primary health care and financial protection to digital tools and emergency preparedness, among others. These 8 areas emphasize the type of integrated thinking required to also tackle social, economic, environmental and commercial determinants of health, as part of ensuring resilient and sustainable health systems for the future.

This framework will guide WHO/Europe and Member States from 2025 to 2030, fostering high-performing, adaptive health systems that are better equipped to support equitable and healthy societies.