Tallinn Health Systems Conference

Tallinn is EURO’s last corporate, regional conference of the year, and it marks the 15^th anniversary of the Tallinn Charter: Health Systems for Health and Wealth. The conference is being co-organized by EURO, the Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia, and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

Expectations are high, as we are foreseeing the attendance of 14 Ministers of Health (more on this below). The Charter is a landmark document that still shapes the values of WHO/Europe and the 53 member states around the strengthening of health systems.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Trust and Transformation: Resilient and Sustainable Health Systems for the Future”. The main message is: because of recent challenges—think COVID—people have lost trust in their health systems. People don’t trust their health providers; health workers don’t trust their governments and health systems; policymakers don’t trust the system to work. So, we need a new vision to rebuild and transform our health systems moving forward, with trust at the heart.

At the end of the conference, participants are expected to adopt a “Tallinn Outcome Statement”, the draft of which is attached.

Tallinn and UHC Day

The first day of the conference falls on UHC Day and this is not a coincidence, as the two narratives align. We’ve put together a set of key messages that explain how the two are linked (see attached). I’m also sharing the UHC Day campaign brief we’ve received from HQ.

Tallinn and the new regional financial protection report

On the 12^th, we’ll also be releasing a new regional report on financial protection, asking the question “Can people afford to pay for health care?” The new report includes data and findings from 40 out of the 53 countries in EURO, and we have a separate package for that. The package is still in production, but if you have any immediate questions, please contact Mariana Nissen (copied here).

Communications content

We have put together the following resources, which we hope you’ll be able to disseminate and share across your channels.

• An extensive social media package for the conference (the event hashtag is #TallinnCharter2023) available here  Tallinn CO SM package (please reach out to Vini if you cannot access it)
• A brand package for you to use to develop your own products (related to the event)  COs
• A draft set of key messages for the conference (attached)
• A summary of the regional financial protection report, under embargo until 10:00 CET on 12-DEC (attached)
• The Director of the CPS Division, Natasha, has written a short opinion piece, which outlines the messaging around the event. You’re welcome to read it and/or share as you see fit.
• A regional press release (currently going through RD clearance)
• We also have a draft RD op-ed (draft forthcoming) which, just as with the op-ed for the PHC conference, you are welcome to translate and pitch to a national outlet. Please contact Bhanu for any questions related to the op-ed.

Tallinn evidence base

Together with the Observatory, we’ve put together a series of policy briefs that provide the evidence for the conference itself, and which form the foundations of the outcome statement. These are relatively technical products, but very important to understand the conference and the evidence behind it.