Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly 
 
27 May – 1 June 2024
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Statement delivered by H.E. Ms. Albana Koçiu, Minister of Health and Social Protection
President,
Director General Tedros,
Ministers, and
Distinguished leaders,
Today, we gather again with a shared purpose to stand together to save lives and drive health for all.
On behalf of Albania, I wish to thank WHO, for its continuous support.
Today, my country has reasons to be proud in celebrating important achievements:

• We are extending the Universal Healthcare Services, with a focus on early detection and prevention of diseases. As a matter of fact, we are on the verge of starting the implementation of an ambitious program of establishing family health centers across the country.
• We have constantly increased funding and improved access to healthcare, realized this year through the adoption of the largest healthcare and social protection budget in history.
• We are proud of transforming healthcare infrastructure all over. Since the hit of Covid-19 Pandemic, we have modernized and adequately equipped dozens of regional hospitals and over 370 health centers in the whole country.
• And we are very proud of having advanced further significant reforms in health policy and management, which have increased access and quality of care.

While our health system grows stronger, our achievements reflect the theme of this assembly: All for Health and Health for all.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen
Together with WHO and our other development partners, the Government of Albania is actively moving ahead towards Universal Health Coverage.
On a primary health-care level, we have focused a lot of energy on strengthening Family Medicine with a strong emphasis on contextualizing services to the community health needs.
On the secondary and tertiary levels, we are currently in a reform process aimed at improving hospital management and efficiency through the increased autonomy of hospitals.
On the emergency agenda, we continue to strengthen planning and capacity towards resilience and health security.
 
--------Albania and the Global, Regional and Balkans role
Moving forward, we remain committed to the Global and Regional role that our country is willing to have.
The EU integration process has made it important to accelerate cohesion in the healthcare sector.
In the Western Balkans Region, this year we proudly co-signed the Western Balkan Declaration on Protection from Tobacco Smoke and look forward towards the implementation of other regional policies.
 
--- Albania's position on key WHA agenda items
In regard to the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva, our Ministry would like to reiterate its support towards
- WHO Investment Round,  a critical initiative for mobilizing the necessary financial resources to keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.
- The Pandemic Treaty, as a strategic approach to foster international solidarity and ensure a more coordinated and global response to current and future health hazards.
 
--- Albania calls
As we look to the future and the achievement of the GPW 14 goals, I wish to highlight a critical issue for many developing nations: The issue of the migration of the health and care workforce.
Investment into health systems is undermined without enough sufficiently trained health workers, and will not provide effective health services.
I thank the WHO for their ongoing efforts on this and kindly ask Member States to consider the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel during their health resource planning and recruitment.
Albania is actively engaged in this issue and stands ready to engage at the highest levels to promote a fairer health personnel migration agenda.
I sincerely believe we can find common ground because we share common goals, and we look forward to working with all of you in these endeavors.
 
Thank you for your attention!