Committee of Senior Representatives (CSR) Twenty-ninth Meeting Riga, Latvia 26-27 April 2018 Title Minutes from the 29 th Meeting of the NDPHS Committee of Senior Representatives Submitted by Secretariat Summary / Note This document outlines the main discussion points and decisions made during the 29 th meeting of the CSR. List of Annexes Annex 1 List of participants Annex 2 List of documents submitted to the meeting 1. Opening of the meeting and welcome The meeting was opened and chaired by Ms. Agnese Vaļuliene, the NDPHS CSR Chair, the Ministry of Health of Latvia. Ms. Ülla-Karin Nurm, the Director of the NDPHS Secretariat, welcomed the participants. 2. Adoption of the agenda The Meeting adopted the Provisional agenda as submitted in document CSR 29/2/1/Rev 2. 3. Information by the NDPHS Chairmanship and the NDPHS Secretariat The Chair, co-chair and the Secretariat informed about various recent developments and events of relevance for the NDPHS, including participation in the meeting on alcohol policy in the Baltic States organized by the Health, Welfare and Family Committee of the Baltic Assembly held on 26 January 2018 in Riga, meeting of the BEAC Joint Working Group on Health and Related Social Issues held on 22-23 March 2018 in Kirkenes, as well as communication with Denmark regarding its participation in the NDPHS. The Meeting took note of the provided information. CSR_29 Meeting_minutes.doc 1
4. Information by the NDPHS Partners NDPHS Partners informed about important national and regional developments of relevance for the NDPHS: Russia informed about the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era held in Moscow on 17-18 November 2017 and project Assessment and development of recommendations to improve medical and social outpatient care for patients with chronic noncommunicable comorbidity in Northwest Federal District of the Russian Federation in cooperation with other countries operating within Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being. Norway informed about its co-chairmanship of the BEAC Working Group on Health and Related Social Issues together with the Republic of Komi (Russian Federation) and the meeting of the group held on 22-23 March 2018 in Kirkenes and expressed a hope for strengthened collaboration between the NDPHS and the BEAC Working Group. WHO Europe informed about the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era held in Moscow on 17-18 November 2017, the high-level meeting Health Systems Respond to NCDs: Celebrate, Share, Inspire held in Sitges on 16-18 April 2018, the High-Level Meeting on Health Systems for Prosperity and Solidarity: Leaving No One Behind to be held on 13-14 June 2018 in Tallinn and the global conference to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Alma-Ata declaration that will be held in Astana. Estonia provided additional information about the High-Level Meeting on Health Systems for Prosperity and Solidarity: Leaving No One Behind, which will mark the tenth anniversary of the Tallinn Charter. Sweden informed about its Presidencies of BEAC, the CBSS and the NCM. The Meeting took note of the provided information. 5. NDPHS cooperation with other regional networks With reference to the background document disseminated via email on 25 April 2018, the Chair provided an update regarding the progress with the establishment of the CBSS/Baltic Sea Labour Forum Coordination Group (formerly known as the CBSS Expert Group on Labour and Employment, EGLE) and possible NDPHS involvement in the work of the group. The Meeting discussed potential cooperation and agreed that in principle the NDPHS is in favor of collaboration with the CBSS/Baltic Sea Labour Forum Coordination Group, however, more information is needed (e.g., Terms of Reference, fields of collaboration) to decide on exact modalities of the NDPHS involvement. CSR_29 Meeting_minutes.doc 2
6. NDPHS Progress report for 2017 The Secretariat presented the NDPHS Progress report for 2017 (submitted as document CSR 29/6/1). The Meeting approved the submitted NDPHS Progress report for 2017 and mandated the NDPHS Secretariat to publish it on the NDPHS website. 7. Transferring the results of experts work and regional projects to the policy level The Meeting held an interactive discussion and exchange of information on the results of Expert Groups work and how it has been used by the Partner Countries so far in designing their national policies. Emerging trends in epidemiology, follow-up on NDPHS policy documents, the NDPHS potential and the challenges faced by the Expert Groups had also been discussed. The Meeting highly appreciated the change in the format of the CSR meeting from reporting to a dialogue and agreed to continue and further strengthen the two-way communication between the Partners and the Expert Groups in the future CSR meetings. Finally, the Meeting took note of the document CSR 29/7/Info1 summarizing the discussion of the EG Chairs and ITAs 23 meeting regarding the NDPHS role and transferring the results of experts work to the policy level. 7.1 Results of NoDARS project Ms. Sofia Ny, Public Health Agency of Sweden, presented the results of the Northern Dimension Antimicrobial Resistance Study (NoDARS). The Meeting took note of the presented information and thanked the Project Partners for the very useful data collected within the project, which will be used to update and develop national guidelines. The Meeting also thanked the EU for the provided co-financing of the NoDARS project. 7.2 Overview of NDPHS project ideas The Meeting took note of the overview of NDPHS project ideas submitted as document CSR 29/7.2/Info1. 8. Alignment of activities of the stakeholders with similar aims under umbrella flagship within the EUSBSR PA Health Ms. Suvi Aho (Metropolia University of Applied Sciences) and Ms. Karolina Mackiewicz (Baltic Region Healthy Cities Association) presented the flagship project А Healthy Boost Urban Labs for Better Health for All in the Baltic Sea Region - boosting cross-sectoral cooperation for health CSR_29 Meeting_minutes.doc 3
and wellbeing in the cities, which has been recently submitted to the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme and is awaiting the decision of the donor regarding the funding. The Secretariat presented the idea of alignment of activities of the stakeholders with similar aims under umbrella flagship within the EUSBSR PA Health and the funding opportunity for project platforms that will become available in 2019 from the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. The Meeting took note of the presented information. 8.1 NDPHS flagship project on aging: state of play and further steps With reference to the document CSR 24/8.1/Info 1 the Secretariat presented information regarding the possibility to organize the Northern Dimension Future Forum with a focus on aging, in cooperation with the Northern Dimension Institute and financed by the EU and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ASA EG presented the state of play and further steps for developing the NDPHS flagship project on aging. The Meeting held an exchange of views and agreed to: 1) Mandate the Secretariat to continue the preparations for the Northern Dimension Future Forum with a focus on healthy aging. 2) Mandate the Expert Groups to continue the development of the NDPHS flagship project on aging with a view to preparing a project proposal for submission for funding. 3) Shift the focus of the project from population ageing as a problem to ageing as an opportunity, as well as include the topic of gender inequalities. The NCD EG supported the NDPHS flagship project on aging and reported, via presentation, the possible impact of NCDs on aging process: challenges for joint collaboration. 9. Approval of the Action Plan accompanying the NDPHS Strategy covering the period of 2018-2020 The Meeting agreed that the Action Plan accompanying the NDPHS Strategy covering the period of 2018-2020 (submitted as document CSR 29/9/1) would be approved in writing together with the minutes from this meeting. 10. NDPHS evaluation Germany presented the document How the NDPHS provides strategic added-value to the development of public health policies, originally submitted to the CSR 24 meeting with reference No. CSR 24/9.3/Info 1. The Meeting discussed the document and agreed to: CSR_29 Meeting_minutes.doc 4
1) Publish the document on the NDPHS website in the section Leaflets, with the revisions requested by Russia included in the third but last paragraph. 2) Refer to the document during the upcoming NDPHS evaluation. With reference to the document CSR 29/10/1, the Secretariat presented the suggestions regarding the NDPHS evaluation submitted by the ad hoc working group planning the NDPHS evaluation. The Chair informed that the MP meeting held the day before decided that the upcoming NDPHS evaluation will be financed from the NDPHS Activity Fund that will be further replenished from the main budget. The European Union presented its offer to finance the NDPHS evaluation 1. The financing would be provided via a framework contract and the communication on the execution of the contract would be conducted between the NDPHS Secretariat and the EU, but it is up to the NDPHS to agree how the NDPHS Secretariat would be mandated to express the views in this process. The planned timeline envisages that the evaluation would be completed by September 2018. The Meeting discussed the provided information and: 1) Agreed to all suggestions regarding the NDPHS evaluation as submitted in document CSR 29/10/1 (except the financing mode). 2) Agreed to establish the Evaluation Steering Group during May 2018 via written process. 3) Thanked the European Union for its generous offer which is highly appreciated, however, since the envisaged timeline is unfeasible, mandated the NDPHS Secretariat to contact DG NEAR and request the prolongation of the timeline by at least 9 months. If prolongation is not possible, the offer shall be declined and the evaluation shall be financed from the NDPHS Activity Fund. 11. Future PAC, CSR and EG Chairs and ITAs meetings The Chair introduced the document CSR 29/11/Rev 1 with proposals regarding the hosting of PAC, CSR and EG Chairs and ITAs meetings, the order of rotation of the NDPHS Chairmanships, abolishing the non-pac meetings and holding the EG Chairs and ITAs meetings back-to-back with the meetings of the NDPHS governing bodies. The Secretariat raised the question whether the NDPHS 15 th anniversary should be celebrated. The Meeting discussed the proposals and agreed to: 1) Establish a list of rotating NDPHS Chairmanships, which shall be flexible and re-approved by each PAC, and invited the Chair Country and the Secretariat to submit a formal list to the next CSR meeting for approval for submission to the next PAC for adoption. 2) Approach Iceland, whenever an opportunity arises, to enquire about Iceland s plans regarding its role in Partnership in general and also the prospect of chairing the NDPHS some time in the future. 1 Presentation Evaluations in the EU External Aid is available on the NDPHS website at http://www.ndphs.org/?mtgs,csr_29 riga. CSR_29 Meeting_minutes.doc 5
3) Abolish the non-pac meetings and hold the EG Chairs and ITAs meetings back-to-back with the meetings of the NDPHS governing bodies. 4) Establish the lists of hosts PAC, CSR and EG Chairs and ITAs meetings covering the period of three years and renew the list every year and invited the Chair Country and the Secretariat to prepare the list covering next three years and submit it to the next CSR meeting for approval. The list of foreseen rotation will be disseminated together with the draft minutes from the meeting, encouraging particularly those Partners that have not yet assigned to any of the future meetings to do so. 5) Accept the kind offers of: Russia to host the next EG Chairs and ITAs meeting on 4-5 October 2018 in Moscow; Latvia to host the next MP and CSR meetings on 17-18 October 2018 in Riga; Poland to host the EG Chairs and ITAs, CSR and MP meetings in spring 2019 and 2020; Finland - to host the EG Chairs and ITAs, CSR and MP meetings in autumn 2020; Norway - to host the EG Chairs and ITAs, CSR and MP meetings in spring 2021 and 2026; Estonia - to host the EG Chairs and ITAs, CSR and MP meetings in autumn 2022. 6) Commemorate the NDPHS 15 th anniversary and invited all participants to submit to the Secretariat and the Chair Country any ideas in this regard, as well as any NDPHS-related photos from personal albums to be used for making a collage. 12. EUSBSR PA Health coordination progress and further steps The Secretariat presented information about the progress and further steps in implementing the PA Health Support 2 project (submitted as document CSR 29/12/Info 1) and the summary of the application for a new project PA Health Support 3 (submitted as document CSR 29/12/Info 2). The Meeting took note of the presented information. 13. 2nd report on the implementation of the EUSBSR The Meeting took note of the 2nd report on the implementation of the EUSBSR (submitted as document CSR 29/13/Info 1). 14. Adoption of the CSR 29 meeting minutes The Meeting agreed that from now on, the process of adopting the minutes from the CSR meetings would not be presented and discussed during the meeting, instead the Meeting will agree on the process by adopting the agenda. The Meeting agreed that the draft of the meeting minutes would be sent to participants on 23 May 2018 with the deadline for comments until 1 June 2018. The revised meeting minutes will be sent to participants on 8 June 2018 and will be adopted if no further comments are received until 15 June 2018. 15. Closing of the meeting The Meeting terminated on 27 April 2018 at 12:30 hours. CSR_29 Meeting_minutes.doc 6