The Observatory was joined in Brussels by colleagues from WHO Ukraine and the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing to reflect on past work and discuss a deepened collaboration.
The Observatory’s partnership with WHO Ukraine and the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing has been longstanding and productive, including close collaboration on rehabilitation policy and financing. Most recently, WHO Ukraine and the Observatory worked together on the 2025 report Strengthening Rehabilitation Care: Learning from countries’ experiences on organizing service delivery and financing. The findings have directly informed policy dialogue and reforms in Ukraine and were followed by dedicated webinars to support uptake of evidence by national and international stakeholders.
Over the past years, the partnership has also delivered the COVID-19 Health Systems Response Monitor for Ukraine and Health Systems in Action reviews in 2021 and 2024, providing critical system-level analysis during periods of crisis and recovery.
“Our collaboration with WHO Ukraine demonstrates how comparative evidence can directly inform health system transformation, even under the most challenging circumstances. The work we’re launching together will not only support Ukraine’s ongoing reforms but will also contribute valuable lessons for health systems across Europe,” said Observatory Director Ewout van Ginneken.
“In the past few days, we have come together as the WHO and European Observatory teams to establish an agenda for partnerships for the coming years to leverage on evidence, experience, and knowledge to support further health system transformation in Ukraine while learning from others. Furthermore, last ten years reforms in Ukraine and its health system resilience have many examples to share now,” added Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine.
The Observatory looks forward to continuing this collaboration, generating evidence that supports policy decisions in Ukraine while contributing to learning on priority health system challenges across Europe.