About the conference

The USAID-sponsored conference on Ten Years of Health Systems Transition in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia was held in Washington, D. C. at the Washington Hilton Hotel and Towers on July 28-31, 2002. The agenda incorporated the enormous cross-regional diversity of approaches to health systems transition in the CEE and Eurasia geographic area and balanced country and donor representation. Over 700 participants from 37 countries attended; and the 125 presentations sparked lively discussions and a rare opportunity to gain an overview of the vast changes that have occurred.

“Values in a health care system should not just be good intentions. They must be translated into action.”

Dr. Marc Danzon, Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe, emphasized a critical issue that is often overlooked amid the complexity of technical redirection of a system. He further elaborated on this point. “Technical approaches to improving health care systems must place solidarity and universal access at their core. The poor and fragile must not be left out of the system.” Click here to listen…

“Expensive and time-consuming mistakes have been avoided by developing partnerships and collaborative programs with other countries.”

Dr. Radu Deac, Secretary of State, Romanian Ministry of Health, observed that the pieces of the health reform puzzle have been modeled in various countries and collaboration enables countries to teach and to learn from each other. Click here to listen …

The Conference Coordinating Committee

To guide program development USAID organized a coordinating committee, which included representatives of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO-Euro), the European Observatory on Health Care Systems, USAID and the American International Health Alliance (AIHA). They were actively engaged with the objective of providing a unique learning experience that could be the foundation for future health transition efforts of country leaders and donors.

Nominations for presentations were submitted by the Aga Khan Foundation, Canadian International Development Agency, DHHS, the Open Society Institute, the Humana Foundation, TACIS, the U.K. Department for International Development, USAID,WHO and the World Bank. The depth of experience reflected in conference presentations was substantial.

Media coverage of conference heightens visibility of health reform in the region.

To promote an active partnership between public health professionals and members of the mass media, USAID supported a group of 13 journalists who cover public health issues to attend the conference…