The WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) has designated the School of Medicine at the University of Crete, Greece, as the WHO Collaborating Centre on Quality of Care and People-Centred Health Policies. The Centre will use behavioural and cultural insights to advance quality of care and patient safety. It will foster social participation and stakeholder engagement in health and care systems, promote patient partnerships and health literacy, and advance compassionate, dignity-based models of care to strengthen trust in health care systems across the WHO European Region.
“WHO collaborating centres are key partners in advancing public health priorities, connecting expertise, institutions and networks to support WHO’s work and strengthen health systems across the Region”, underlined Dr João Breda, Head, WHO Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety in Athens. “Through its focus on quality of care and people-centred health policies, this new centre will help countries develop practical solutions to improve the quality, safety and experience of care, while strengthening trust, health literacy and engagement between people and health services.”
Increasing demands
Across the Region, countries are working to ensure that health care is increasingly centred on the needs and experiences of people. Changing population needs, demographic trends, the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases, and increasing demands on health systems require continued efforts to improve how care is designed, delivered and experienced.
Although important progress has been made, challenges remain in embedding people-centred approaches across health systems, strengthening patient and community engagement, improving health literacy and supporting health professionals with the knowledge and tools needed to deliver compassionate, high-quality care. Addressing these challenges requires continued collaboration, capacity-building, exchange of knowledge, and the development of practical approaches to improve quality of care.
The Collaborating Centre’s work will contribute to the priorities of the Second European Programme of Work, 2026–2030 (EPW2), including advancing people-centred care, by improving health literacy, promoting patient and community engagement, and supporting high-quality, integrated primary health care, to ultimately strengthen trust in health systems.
As part of its work, the Collaborating Centre will:
- strengthen regional collaboration and knowledge-sharing by establishing and coordinating a Mediterranean Basin Consortium for Trustworthy Health and Care Systems, including researching particular behavioural and cultural barriers to trust in health care systems in the area and developing practical tools to address this;
- build capacity by designing and implementing training programmes on compassionate and dignity-based care for health care students and health and social care professionals, including curricula, learning materials, delivery approaches and evaluation frameworks;
- develop norms and quality tools by defining and validating quality indicators for compassionate care and healthy ageing, informed by evidence reviews and expert consultation and in alignment with WHO quality-of-care frameworks; and
- support people-centred service delivery by developing behaviourally and culturally informed interventions and practical tools to improve health literacy and adherence to care plans, self-management for selected noncommunicable diseases, and patient navigation in the health system.
The designation builds on the University of Crete’s long-standing collaboration with WHO and strong track record on people-centred health policies, health literacy and compassionate care, in Greece and internationally. As the first WHO collaborating centre in the Region with a specific focus on quality of care and people-centred health policies, it brings expertise on the behavioural and cultural factors that shape health systems in the Region and in the particular context of the Mediterranean Basin. By generating evidence, fostering regional partnerships and developing practical solutions tailored to diverse cultural contexts, the Centre will serve as a hub for innovation in the area.