WHO endorses Our Shared Agreement!

News from Kirsteen Redmile, Lead Change Manager, It's All About People Programme

I bet that made you sit up! Of course, the World Health Organisation (WHO) hasn’t officially backed Our Shared Agreement. However, in June WHO made a resolution that demonstrates that the work we’re doing in Lincolnshire is at the forefront of driving transformational change.

The unanimous resolution, the first in WHO's 76-year history, saw world leaders commit to strengthen, systemise, and sustain social participation in health and wellbeing. The resolution recognises social participation as:

“empowering people, communities, and civil society through inclusive participation in decision-making processes that affect health across the policy cycle and at all levels of the system.”

Governments will be held accountable for progress to 2030.

"If people are empowered to fully partner in health, the resources, intelligence, and capacities of our health systems will exponentially increase."

This is at the heart of Our Shared Agreement in Lincolnshire!

We need to work differently

So, the message is loud and clear. We need to work differently, and together with people, ensuring that, at an individual level, they are involved and included in decision making.

And, at a more strategic level, we must foster people and communities' insightful and critical knowledge and find the balance of power between the ‘system and people’ that is key to making change happen.

Read the British Medical Journal (BMJ) article about the WHO resolution.