The Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS)
Partnership in public health in the Baltic region
The Northern Dimension (ND) Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS) was established in 2003 by what is known as the Oslo Declaration. The Partnership’s mission is to promote sustainable development by improving peoples’ health and social well-being. The Partnership aims to intensify cooperation on improving healthcare in the Baltic region and to create a cross-sectoral platform for health advocacy.
The NDPHS is intended to help minimise the regional differences in access to medical benefits and services as well as achieve a general improvement in peoples' quality of life and the demographic situation overall. The Partnership aims to achieve this by enhancing cooperation among the States bordering the Baltic Sea, by assisting the partners and participants in capacity building, and by encouraging the coordination of international activities in the region.
The Health Partnership works closely with the other actors in the health care systems of the region (such as WHO EURO), so as to avoid duplication of efforts and make use of synergies. In so doing, it builds on and supports existing national and international activities within this area of focus.
The main objectives of the Health Partnership
- reducing the spread of communicable diseases (for example, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis)
- ameliorating the population's state of health by means of improving healthcare and promoting healthy lifestyles as well as
- encouraging the exchange of knowledge on various health topics (such as antimicrobial resistance)
At present, nine governments (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden), the European Commission and eight international organisations such as WHO EURO, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) collaborate within the NDPHS.
The topic of 'health' is also one of the priorities of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). The coordinator in this context is the NDPHS, which consequently has the possibility of drawing attention to specific aspects within European health policy. These also include what are known as non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.