Professional medical associations play an essential role in defining and advancing health care standards. And their active involvement in developing the policy in the field of healthcare is essential for further and a wide-range awareness-raising among patients and physicians and improve the quality of the care provided to patients.
To raise the awareness of the medical associations on the standards and principles enshrined in the Oviedo Convention, to promote those standards among professional circles and the public at large, and to mark the recent signature of the Oviedo Convention by Armenia, Council of Europe Office in Yerevan on 25-26 May has organised a two-day capacity-building event for around 35 healthcare professionals from different medical associations, including Armenian Association of Young Doctors, Armenian Medical Association.
The opening remarks were delivered by Meri Katvalyan, Senior Project Officer of the Project “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine” Ani Yeremyan, Chair of the Armenian Association of Young Doctors and Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, Chair of the Armenian Medical Association.
The participants have discussed the principles related to human rights-based approaches to healthcare, European and national standards in the field of informed consent and medical confidentiality, the guarantees and benefits of the ratification of the Oviedo Convention, as well as the topics related to continuous professional development of healthcare professionals and basic principles of the Ethics Committee for healthcare professionals. The presentations were followed by active discussions among participants.
The discussion marked an important step towards strengthening the capacities and knowledge of representatives from different medical associations on the Oviedo Convention and promoted the public dialogue on health issues.
This capacity-building event was organized by the Council of Europe Project on “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine II” implemented within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026.