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In July 2003 I was fortunate to identify a Hungarian Policy Mentor, Dr Mihály Kökény. At that time, Dr Kökény was Political Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs. Since then, he has been appointed as Minister to the Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs. His contact address is: Dr. Mihály Kökény Actual project implementation began in September 2003 with the first budget instalment from IPF received at the end of August. Activity during September I organised a brainstorming meeting with colleagues and stakeholders (National Institute of Health Development, Semmelweis University, other health promotion experts) to discuss the idea of Policy Pilot Project. We agreed to set up three working groups:
During this month I also drafted the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the pilot project. Activity during October During October the Secretary of State for Public Health and her Advisor, Head of Department of Public Health proposed a national conference on health, the economy and society. During discussions this developed it was determined that health impact assessment (HIA) should be the practical focus for the conference. Accordingly, I started to organise the first Hungarian National Conference on the Introduction of the Policy Health Impact Assessment into the Policy Making Process. The conference provided a strong basis for building wide support for my pilot project and provided stakeholders with a chance to help focus the pilot project on potential policy priorities. The Minister of Health advised me not to formulate a different body (National Steering Committee) for the National Pilot as suggested in September. Instead, he suggested that Intersectoral Ministerial Committee for Public Health would take on this role. During this time I was working closely with the Ministry in order to ensure high level political commitment to the whole process. At this time, a further opportunity emerged to help me put HIA on the policy agenda. I was invited to submit my CV with a view to selection as a member of a national public health expert team tasked with preparing for the first Annual Public Health Report to the Hungarian Parliament. After successful interview, I was invited to join this team with responsibility for integrating HIA into the reporting process. I have since taken part in the process of developing the reporting methodology and content. Activity during November I had a meeting with the Secretary of State for Public Health and her Advisor, Head of Department of Public Health, General Director of the National Institute for Health Development to discuss the professional agenda for the National Conference mentioned previously. (The agenda for this conference is attached to this report) While the first day of the conference would give a platform to a range of international speakers that I had identified, the second day was organised around three round tables in order to allow Hungarian participants to discuss:
Previously, I had asked DG SANCO (from the European Commission) to take part. Due to reorganisation this had not seemed likely. However, DG SANCO then determined that the Conference provided an opportunity to invite HIA colleagues from other accession countries to take part with funding support from DG SANCO. After several discussions, it was decided that on the second day of the conference, DG SANCO would organise a workshop for these colleagues and the international speakers to identify potential capacity building activities that would support the wider adoption and development of HIA across the accession states. Professor Jonathan Watson was invited by DG SANCO to work with me to plan and organise the workshop. He was also asked to produce a report of the workshop (The report for this workshop is also attached to this report). From 27-28 November I was invited to Luxembourg together with colleagues from the Netherlands, UK, Sweden and Finland to provide technical assistance for Romanian colleagues. The Workshop was organised on the subject of “ Health Impact Assessments Principles and Implementation (HIA) issues of importance to Romania”. Activities during December The National Conference was successfully delivered from 4-5 December. The Minister for Health, Social & Family Affairs gave an opening keynote presentation and the first day was then chaired by the Secretary of State for Public Health. The workshop was also successfully delivered and a report sent to DG SANCO and the workshop participants. As a result, I have been asked by DG SANCO to prepare a Hungarian proposal for initial technical support (from DG SANCO) to a meeting for accession countries, that meets the priorities for action identified during the workshop. Activities during January During this month I have been preparing the conference report and working with relevant stakeholders to make a final choice of a national policy to provide a focus for the pilot HIA. Activities during February I have been preparing my Interim Report and updating my Internet Web Site. I am also organising a case study seminar with input from other colleagues to provide methodological support to start the National Pilot Study. [1] Sponsored by the Open Society Institute, International Policy Fellowship, Budapest, Hungary during the 2003/2004 continuing fellowship year.
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