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WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTÉ REGIONAL OFFICE FOR EUROPE BUREAU RÉGIONAL DE L'EUROPE WELTGESUNDHEITSORGANISATION ВСЕМИРНАЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ ЗДРАВООХРАНЕНИЯ REGIONALBÜRO FÜR EUROPA ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЕ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЕ БЮРО WHO European Solutions Forum on /2 Health in the Well-being Economy UN City, Copenhagen, Denmark 5 September 2022 1-2 March 2023 Original: English Scope and purpose Background Across the WHO European Region, as is the case globally, people, families, and communities are struggling to remain resilient amid multiple public health, economic and environmental crises. Not only are the health gains made over previous decades under threat, but the negative impact of these crises on personal and societal well-being – most recently with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – have shown just how essential and precarious our health and social systems and investments are. Across age groups, we are seeing concerning impacts. Current estimates suggest that a majority of young people aged 18–34 years are at risk of declining mental well-being, with increasing rates of anxiety and depression, and these trends are gendered. People in later life, particularly those living alone and with limited social support and resources, are increasingly reporting unmet health needs and are at higher risk of poverty and social exclusion. Moreover, the least well-off in our societies are most likely to suffer poor health and well-being. As highlighted by the 2021 Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, convened by WHO Regional Office for Europe (Monti Commission1), this is compounded by persistent and increasing wealth and income inequalities, increased discrimination, more people working in precarious jobs with low wages, and insufficient investments in social protection and care services, including insecure and poor-quality housing, food and fuel. The combination of universal declines in well-being and exacerbated health inequities presents major challenges to population health and to the fiscal sustainability and resilience of health and welfare systems. Moreover, as highlighted in WHO Regional Office for Europe’s European Programme of Work 2020–2025, United Action for Better Health2 (EPW), failure to close the gap between the public’s legitimate health expectations and their concrete experiences will erode trust and further increase pressure on political and health leaders and authorities. There is a pressing need for adaptive and innovative solutions to address these policy challenges in ways that deliver not just better health and well-being, but also strong, responsive health systems, increased resilience within communities, trust in governments and institutions, equal opportunities for decent livelihoods, and the ability to live in peace, free of fear. This underscores the need for a paradigm shift in how we think about the relationship between health and the economy. It also further reflects an increasing recognition of the interconnectedness of economic, social, environmental and political determinants of health in line with WHO Regional Office for Europe’s EPW. The well-being economy approach3, 4 embodies such a shift in thinking and action, moving the focus away from economic growth as an objective in itself; instead, it explicitly 1 https://www.who.int/docs/librariesprovider2/default-document-library/pan-european-commission-health- sustainable-development-eng.pdf 2 https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1330295/retrieve 3 https://www.who.int/news/item/15-12-2021-10th-global-conference-on-health-promotion-charters-a-path-for- creating-well-being-societies 4 https://www.who.int/czechia/news/item/08-07-2022-who-launches-a-new-initiative-to-place-well-being-at-the- heart-of-economic-recovery Scope and purpose page 2 prioritizes well-being measures and investments that provide real societal benefit5. However, the role of the health sector in contributing to the well-being economy has not yet been sufficiently developed – this was an area identified as an important priority by the Monti Commission. Innovative solutions to pressing policy challenges: the well-being economy The well-being economy approach is underpinned by the principle that public investment and spending should be guided by the extent to which a policy, service or organization can improve population and societal well-being. It acknowledges the need also to focus on and contribute to improving the environment and health in a way that is safe, sustainable and staying within the limits of the planetary boundaries. Well-being economies cannot be achieved without better investment for health equity, along with increased spending in strong public health systems, policies and goods. Yet, this is not only about increasing direct investment in health per se, but about capitalizing on the paradigm shift in what society values most from the economy, and its role in promoting and sustaining personal and societal health and well-being. Economy of well-being approaches can be applied using various tools and at a different pace in all countries across the WHO European Region and beyond, irrespective of the size of the country or type of economy. To enable this shift, proponents of the well-being economy are providing decision- makers with political and investment tools to go beyond the traditional siloed, budget-based thinking with competition between sectors over scarce resources. Instead, these tools promote: (i) building alliances that can mobilize and jointly advocate for distribution of fiscal and economic resources that has a positive impact on health and well-being for all; and (ii) generating a higher return on public investment and spending through a focus on improving population and societal well-being. It is important to understand that the health sector will not just be a beneficiary of this paradigm shift, but that it also has a crucial role in driving well-being economy approaches. In this spirit, the WHO Regional Office for Europe is hosting a high-level two-day Solutions Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy on 1-2 March 2023. Aims and Objectives The Solutions Forum will: demonstrate how health contributes to building well-being economies and how well-being economies can promote better health for all; and set an agenda for how best to support health leaders and authorities in shifting towards well- being economies. The Forum aims to achieve certain objectives. It will: show how public health policies, public health goods and health systems are important contributors to economic and social resilience and sustainable development; inspire more countries to initiate public investments and spending focused on the well-being economy; and galvanize action, new alliances and communities of practice between health, social and economic development policy-makers, in order to: o promote population health and well-being; o strengthen trust between the public and authorities; and o remedy social fractures and health inequities. 5 https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/498e9bc7- en.pdf?expires=1660045490&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=9AE8C94F721332B8EEDEDE55DE3DAB1C  Scope and purpose page 3 Participants The WHO/Europe Solutions Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy welcomes participation from: high-level representatives of ministries of health and ministries of economic development; public health decision-makers, experts and representatives from civil society; representatives from specialized agencies of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, such as the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); and well-being economy partners and advocates from local, national and regional levels across the whole of civil society. Expected outcomes Building on the conference themes, an outcome statement will be prepared, provisionally entitled Shifting to well-being economies – investing in healthy, prosperous lives for all. The statement will take the format of a call to action for all participants to support investment in initiatives that promote well-being economies. The outcome statement is expected to call for: a country policy initiative to provide Member States with the know-how, investment cases and modelling of the return on investment in building economies of well-being; and a forum between ministries of health and economic development to assess progress, overcome barriers, and set the agenda for how the health sector can serve as a driver, ally and co-creator in the shift towards economies of well-being that deliver better health for all. Following endorsement of the statement, the WHO Regional Office for Europe will advance the work outlined in the document, with a more formal presentation of the agenda, workstream and preliminary outputs to be presented at the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in 2023. The Regional Office will engage with partners to implement the actions in the outcome statement. This work will be led by the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development in Venice, Italy. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION Date: 19 September 2022 ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTÉ WELTGESUNDHEITSORGANISATION ВСЕМИРНАЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ ЗДРАВООХРАНЕНИЯ Mr Peep Peterson Minister of Health and Labour REGIONAL OFFICE FOR EUROPE Ministry of Social Affairs BUREAU RÉGIONAL DE L’EUROPE REGIONALBÜRO FÜR EUROPA Suur-Ameerika 1 ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЕ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЕ БЮРО 10129 Tallinn Head office: Estonia UN City, Marmorvej 51, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Tel.: +45 45 33 70 00; Fax: +45 45 33 70 01 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.euro.who.int Dear Sir, WHO European Solutions Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy Copenhagen, Denmark, 1–2 March 2023 I have the honour to inform you that the WHO Regional Office for Europe plans to hold the above-mentioned two-day high-level meeting. People, families and communities across the WHO European Region are struggling to remain resilient amid a growing economic crisis and the continued impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Decline in well-being and widening health inequities present major challenges to populations’ health and to the fiscal sustainability and resilience of health and welfare systems. The well-being economy provides new solutions to address these policy challenges through adapted public policies, investments and innovative service models. The Solutions Forum, organized by the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development in Venice, Italy, will: demonstrate how health contributes to building well-being economies and how those in turn can promote better health for all; and set an agenda to support health leaders and authorities to shift towards well-being economies. I have pleasure in inviting you to nominate two participants. In addition to one representative from the ministry responsible for health, we encourage you to include a high-level representative from a ministry with a portfolio for economic development, finance, and/or equal opportunities. Please address your reply by email to Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, Director, Division of Country Health Policies and Systems Health and Ms Christine Brown, Head, WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development as focal points for the meeting (email: [email protected]). We look forward to receiving your nominations at your earliest convenience and no later than Monday, 31 October 2022. Yours very truly, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge Regional Director UN City, Marmorvej 51 Tel.: +45 45 33 70 00 Email: [email protected] DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Fax: +45 45 33 70 01 Website: http://www.euro.who.int Denmark Encls: Scope and Purpose Copy for information to: Ms Elen Ohov, Adviser, European Union Affairs and International Co-operation Department, Ministry of Social Affairs, Suur-Ameerika 1, 10122 Tallinn, Estonia Ms Triin Uusberg, Head, European Union Affairs and International Co-operation Department, Ministry of Social Affairs, Suur-Ameerika 1, 10129 Tallinn, Estonia H.E. Ms Katrin Saarsalu-Layachi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Estonia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28A, CH-1209 Genève, Switzerland H.E. Mr William Mart Laanemäe, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of Estonia, Frederiksgade 19, 4th floor, 1265 Copenhagen K, Denmark Ms Kristina Köhler, Liaison Officer, WHO Country Office, Estonia, Paldiski Road 81, 10617 Tallinn, Estonia –2– Saatja: WBEforum <[email protected]> Saadetud: 22.09.2022 11:26 Adressaat: Peep Peterson <[email protected]>; Triin Uusberg <[email protected]>; Elen Ohov <[email protected]> Koopia: Elen Ohov <[email protected]>; Triin Uusberg <[email protected]>; SM Info <[email protected]>; Ms K. Saarsalu-Layachi <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; Kaisa.Mitt-Alvarez <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; KÖHLER, Kristina <[email protected]> Teema: WHO European Solutions Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1–2 March 2023 Please see the attached correspondence sent from the World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe. One or more attachments may be included. Veuillez vous r¨¦f¨¦rer ¨¤ la correspondance ci-jointe du Bureau r¨¦gional de l'Europe de l'Organisation mondiale de la sant¨¦. Une ou plusieurs annexes peuvent ¨ºtre jointes. 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