Universal Health Coverage in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Professor Salman Rawaf – Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre, is participating in the preparatory meeting for the regional consultation entitled “Strengthening Service Provision through Family Practice Approach: Towards Universal Health Coverage in the Eastern Mediterranean Region” taking place inEastern Mediterranean Regional Office for the WHO (EMRO) in Cairo between the 20^th and the 22^nd August.

This meeting is the first step towards the regional consultation which is expected to take place in November of this year. The regional consultation is the fruit of collaboration between The World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA. The objectives of the Consultation are to:

1. Present current status of family practice in the Eastern Mediterranean Region highlighting bottlenecks, opportunities and priorities for moving towards Universal Health Coverage
2. Share selected regional and global good practices on implementation of family practice.
3. Share experiences on integration of priority health programmes including non-communicable diseases in improving the service provision dimension of the Universal Health Coverage.
4. Agree on approaches and tools for assessing and improving the quality and safety of care at the primary health care level.
5. Propose alternative options to complement the family practice programme, such as: promoting service delivery through community health workers, outreach team, mobile clinics and home based healthcare.
6. Develop outline of a road map for improved service provision as part of the commitments in moving towards Universal Health Coverage to be compatible for three groups of the countries.