Event highlights
During the week, participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine identified specific priorities under each of the 5 pillars of WHO/Europe’s Framework for Action on the Health and Care Workforce – laying the groundwork for in-country activities under the “Health Resilience in the Eastern Partnership” project funded by the European Union.
Participants from Armenia emphasized the need to strengthen health workforce planning, which will feed into an upcoming health labour market analysis. For Georgia, discussions centred on improving rural retention of health workers as part of the country’s primary health care reforms. The Republic of Moldova and Ukraine will carry out assessments of education curricula to inform tailored recommendations for strengthening workforce education.
“For me, this course has been a valuable opportunity not only to learn from leading experts and speakers, but also to explore new solutions and exchange ideas with colleagues from different countries,” said Gohar Yerimyan, one of the participants from Armenia’s National Institute of Health. “I would like to thank the organizers for this valuable course and the Ministry of Health of Armenia for nominating me to attend.”
Across the sessions, participants deepened their competencies in key areas of health workforce policy, specifically in:
- retention – they analysed drivers of attraction and retention, including mental health needs, as highlighted by the recently published report on the mental health of nurses and doctors, and explored policy options to mitigate the impacts of health worker migration;
- building supply – they examined how primary health care service models shape workforce training, identified system strengths and gaps and reviewed best practices for boosting workforce supply;
- optimization – they developed a shared understanding of optimization approaches and learned from innovative examples such as skill mix change, co-design and digital care models;
- planning – they reviewed essential data sources for workforce planning, gained practical insights into transforming data into actionable intelligence and discussed governance, stakeholder engagement and policy-driven projection methods such as backcasting; and
- investment – they strengthened their ability to make the case for increased public investment in the health and care workforce.
Together, these discussions are helping countries to refine their priorities and prepare targeted activities to advance a stronger, more resilient health workforce across the Eastern Partnership region.
Event notice
This year’s course comes as part of the European Union-funded project “Support for Health Resilience in the Eastern Partnership”, a multi-year agreement with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood. Participants will be from the 5 Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
About the Executive Course
The Executive Course supports countries in translating the WHO/Europe Framework for Action on the Health and Care Workforce 2023–2030 into practice. Adopted by all 53 Member States at the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in October 2023, the Framework for Action provides strategic guidance for countries to retain and recruit health workers, build supply, optimize performance, plan effectively, and invest sustainably in their health and care systems.
This year’s cohort will bring together around 25 participants from the Eastern Partnership countries, supporting their ongoing efforts to build resilient and well-governed health and care systems.
Participants include upper- and middle-level managers with decision-making authority in HRH, nursing, primary health care, social care and rehabilitation, as well as representatives from ministries of education, labour and other relevant sectors.
The curriculum will be structured around the Framework for Action and will apply a problem-oriented, contextualized and participatory learning approach. Using adult education principles, the course will combine peer learning, expert input, and case-based exercises such as discussions, group work, debates and participant presentations.
This format will help participants strengthen strategic vision, develop effective policies, build consensus among diverse stakeholders and promote good governance in pursuit of universal health coverage.
Participants will engage in pre-course virtual meetings to prepare with country-specific materials, and the week will include field visits to Danish health-care institutions. The course will be led by WHO representatives and technical experts, with contributions from renowned guest speakers from WHO and beyond.