Tuscany- Tunisia “Health for all” project at the European Development Days in Brussels

The Global Health Center Region of Tuscany and the “Euro-African Partnership” Association of municipalities and provinces of Tuscany, have been invited by the United Nations Agency for Development,  to present the health cooperation project “Health for All” of Tuscany and Tunisia, in the framework of the European Development Days, an annual forum for the development and international cooperation, organized by the European Commission in Brussels on June 15 – 16.

Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations; Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Parliament; Dimitrios Papadimoulid, Vice President of the European Parliament; Jim Yonk Kim, president of the World Bank Group attended the opening ceremony of the European Development Days.

The Italian-tunisian project “Health for All”, funded by the United Nations and co-funded by the Tuscany Region, was completed in February 2016. The Global Health Center of AOU Meyer, the African European Partnership, the NGO Cospe and the associations Pontes and Nosotras, worked together with Tunisian associations  to define good practices about dialogue  among Tunisian migrants in Tuscany and Tunisian residents, in order to promote the full recognition of the right to health and to  improve the health services, especially about  the prevention of hospital infections and maternal and child health. In particular, the project  helped to improve the skills of health professionals in Kasserine through the transfer of knowledge and the exchange of models of governance between the health facilities in Tuscany and Tunisia.

Tuscany has been collaborating for four years with the  region of Kasserine, situated on the border with Algeria.

The project also implemented actions to support the efforts of associations and local institutions in Kasserine in the field of social welfare and community awareness and has contributed to the acquisition of basic equipment for both peripheral health centers and the regional hospital.

“Health for All” project has also contributed to strengthen the link between the Tunisian diaspora and the country of origin, through the participation of Tunisian migrants living in Tuscany and Italy to the activities of the project, involving the active Tunisian associations at Italian level .

The project was presented in the session entitled “Migration, cities and the SDGs.Local authorities’ key role in implementing the migration-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals”organized by the “Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI)” , the Agency United Nations and the International organization for migration (IOM). The goal was to promote the role of local and regional authorities as key actors in the management of local development.

Please find here the press release  by Toscana Notizie.

Please find here the previous articles about the project in Tunisia