- Tel Aviv, Israel
- 10 March 2015
The Office for the European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Clalit Research Institute hosted a technical meeting on the 10 March, 2015 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The conference addressed issues related to the dramatic increase in the rate of chronic diseases in the European region.
Over recent decades, the WHO has been working intensively to tackle and control the ensuing rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mounting prevalence trends of illnesses such as diabetes, ischemic heart disease, stroke and COPD.
In Israel, as in other countries, single chronic illnesses are no longer the greatest challenge facing health systems, health care organizations and individuals, but an ever-increasing prevalence of multiple co-occurring chronic conditions—known as multi-morbidity.
In October 2014, the WHO designated the Clalit Research Institute as the WHO Collaborating Centre for NCD Research, Prevention and Control. Among its mandated activities, the Institute contributes to developing key European policy papers on NCD surveillance and control, and assists in raising innovative topics for discussion. In this context, the Clalit Research Institute hosted this technical meeting of the WHO European Region, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
The meeting served as a second platform for a group of experts in the area of data-driven health monitoring. Member State representatives and leading experts from over 10 countries, including Finland, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, and member states of the south-east European Network convened to discuss country support and future activities on the potential for the application of innovative data-driven methodologies in their countries, as a means to address the increasing challenges and complexities of tackling NCDs.
The meeting covered the following topics:
- Trends of multiple risk factors for NCDs
- The challenges that multi-morbidity poses in the surveillance and control of NCDs
- Addressing real-life complexities for NCD prevention and control