Croatian President’s Wife Sanja Musić Milanović Visits World Health Organization in Geneva

Prof. Dr. Sanja Musić Milanović, the wife of the President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović, visited today, on World Health Day, the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. The visit was organized during President Milanović’s official visit to the Swiss Confederation as part of the President’s wife’s official programme.

At the headquarters of the World Health Organization, Prof. Dr. Musić Milanović met with Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage and Health Systems, Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development and Ruediger Krech, Director of the Department of Health Promotion. Afterwards, she held a meeting with Agnès Buzyn, Executive Director of the World Health Organization Academy and until recently the Director-General’s Envoy for Multilateral Affairs.

Since Prof. Dr. Sanja Musić Milanović is also a member of the Advisory Council on Innovation for Noncommunicable Diseases of the Director of the WHO for the European Region, the conversations focused on the importance of preserving health and on possible innovative approaches in the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases. Also discussed was the importance of participating in research of the European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) of the WHO European Office, which Prof. Dr. Sanja Musić Milanović heads in the Republic of Croatia.

Emphasizing the current epidemiological challenges globally, as well as future measures at global and national levels, good practice examples and the importance of joint cooperation, Prof. Dr. Musić Milanović pointed out that “health is a gift that most of us receive at birth, but we think about it only when we lose it, so it is extremely important that we work together in a timely and continuous manner to preserve and promote the health of the entire population.”

Bearing this in mind, Prof. Dr. Musić Milanović reflected on today’s celebration of World Health Day, with this year’s theme of “Our Planet, Our Health,” and recalled the words of Croatian great Dr. Andrija Štampar, one of the co-founders of the World Health Organization, who almost a hundred years ago declared that “the main point of medical activity is where people live, the planet and the local community, not the doctor’s office.”

PHOTO: WHO