“This lifts collaboration between WHO and Malta to a whole new strategic level,” was the conclusion of Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, after a round of high-level meetings and the signing of a 5-year Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) in Malta last week.
Dr Kluge signed the CCS at a ceremony with Dr Chris Fearne, Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health. They discussed the priorities in the Strategy, Malta’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and actions to secure a sustainable and affordable supply of novel, high-priced medicines, and in particular new cancer drugs.
“All Member States are struggling to pay for oncology drugs, including for children, and the prices are further increasing,” Dr Kluge said. “This is why WHO has taken the initiative to work with Member States, the pharmaceutical industry and patient associations on a new social pact on affordable prices for medicines,” he added, referring to WHO/Europe’s Oslo Medicines Initiative.
Country Cooperation Strategy 2022–2027
Malta has been an active and supportive partner for WHO since joining the Organization in 1965. The CCS signed by Malta and WHO on 4 March aligns with WHO’s European Programme of Work 2020–2025 (EPW) – “United Action for Better Health in Europe”.
The EPW, in turn, aligns with the global-level Triple Billion targets of WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work. The CCS defines a strategic set of areas where WHO and Malta will work together to achieve common goals. These include:
- health workforce planning
- digital health
- quality of care
- mental health
- access to innovative medicines.
The CCS runs for the next 5 years, with both sides bearing their own costs in implementing it. In a parallel development, Dr Kluge redesignated the University of Malta’s Islands and Small States Institute as the WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Systems and Policies in Small States, until June 2025.
Access to novel medicines
WHO and Malta already collaborate on the issue of access to medicines via the Oslo Medicines Initiative. The Initiative is a joint process led by WHO, the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services, and the Norwegian Medicines Agency to create a neutral platform on which to build a new vision for collaboration between the public and private sectors. Its aim is to ensure better access to effective, novel, high-priced medicines.
Coordination and collaboration between Malta and WHO on access to medicines will further intensify in the coming months, ahead of a face-to-face high-level meeting of the Oslo Medicines Initiative in June.
COVID-19 pandemic
During the visit, Dr Fearne also accepted an award from Dr Kluge on behalf of all health-care workers in Malta. The award is in recognition of the extraordinary effort and commitment they have shown in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
The country has achieved one of the highest rates of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among its population, and one of the lower COVID-19 mortality rates in the WHO European Region.
