Prime Minister Edi Rama today addressed the annual meeting of the World Health Organization’s Regional Committee for Europe in Rome. The WHO Regional Committee discussed the annual report on Europe and challenges to health across the region and implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

PM Rama, who was accompanied by the Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu, said in his remarks that improving healthcare service and the population health is an important topic with universal health coverage being a top government priority. “For us, the goal of universal health coverage is the lodestar of our health policy. Until a few years ago, one fifth of the population, 600 hundred thousand uninsured citizens were excluded from universal coverage. Not anymore! Now, every Albanian citizen, insured or not, enjoys this right,” PM Rama said.

The Albanian government has launched a series of bold reforms in the country’s healthcare system, which have been applauded by the World Health Organization. “the WHO has applauded the introduction of free annual health check-ups for people aged 35-70. The same goes with the visit to the family doctor, a free of-charge service for anyone. Our smoke-free program has won wide acclaims from the WHO, which considers our energetic efforts as a linchpin in protecting public health from the smoke epidemic,” PM Rama said.

The 68th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe also discussed the access of individuals to the health care system, with Prime Minister Rama highlighting some of the Albanian government measures that have led to the reduction of the burden of family spending on health. “Another successful policy of our government was the abolishment of the so called “illness tax”, the value added tax of 10% regarding medications. Coupled with our new policies and drug’s price negotiations, this had an immediate effect, reducing by 30% the drugs price. All these health system reforms have reduced the out-of-pocket expenses in the healthcare system from 57% of the total, to 43% and our goal is to cut it to 35% by the end of his government term in office, in the average of the OECD countries.”

The Committee will also address the health challenges and strategies for the well-being of individuals. Health Minister and Social Welfare will attend the discussion.