The importance of delivering effective health services in rural communities has been clearly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO and OECD are collaborating with the World Organization of Family Doctors Working Party on Rural Practice (Rural WONCA), and other partners on methods to improve the health of rural populations who may experience inequitable access to quality health services and adverse social and environmental determinants of health.

This joint WHO-OECD pre-conference forum aimed at engaging national authorities and partners to address the entry points, challenges and possible partnerships for the systematic application of a rural lens to health policies, strategies, plans and programmes to ensure rural needs, contexts and opportunities are considered.

If you want to know more, you can consult the Forum presentations. We also recommend the webinar series on Rural Health Equity.

And if you are particularly interested in this topic and want to stay tuned to activities on rural health, let us know by sending an email with object “Rural Proofing for Health” to our mailbox. You can also subscribe to the WHO newsletter.