The Islands and Small States Institute (ISSI) at the University of Malta has been designated as the ‘WHO collaborating centre on health systems and policies in small states’.
ISSI has assigned this role, during the 4th High-level Meeting of Small Countries, held on 26–27 June 2017. The WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Ministry of Health of Malta jointly organised the Meeting under the framework of the WHO Small Countries Initiative.
Due to its notable track record of top-level policy research on resilience, economy, environment and health in small states, the Institute will work with World Health Organisation as a centre of excellence and will explicitly develop frameworks and policies for strengthening resilience in small state health systems.
The Institute's role will include co-organising capacity-building events on health system leadership and governance in the specific contexts of small states. It will support the area of health information and evidence generation in small states and develop appropriate performance assessment mechanisms for small health systems.
WHO collaborating centres are institutions such as research institutes, parts of universities, or academies that are designated by the WHO director-general to carry out activities in support of the Organisation’s programmes. Currently there are over 700 WHO collaborating centres in 80 countries.
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