Luxembourg to Host High-Level WHO Review Strengthening Health Crisis Prepareness

Luxembourg is preparing to host a high-level mission of the World Health Organization’s Universal Health and Preparedness Review (UHPR) on 27–28 November 2025 at Senningen Castle, marking a major milestone in the country’s effort to bolster health-emergency readiness. The UHPR is a voluntary, peer-review mechanism that examines a nation’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to public-health crises, drawing lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and aligning with international health-security frameworks.

The mission will bring together senior figures from the Luxembourg government, the WHO and the European Commission, including the Minister of Health and Social Security, the WHO Regional Director for Europe and the Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, as well as high-level representatives from the European Commission’s health and food-safety and health-emergency preparedness authorities. For two days, stakeholders will engage in strategic-level dialogue aimed at strengthening multisectoral coordination, transparency and accountability in Luxembourg’s health-security architecture.

Luxembourg’s decision to participate reflects its strategic commitment to national and cross-border health resilience. By undergoing the UHPR, the country seeks to create a tailored action plan to address identified vulnerabilities in governance, financing and system coordination and to demonstrate transparent leadership in health-emergency preparedness. The process is designed to produce non-binding but robust recommendations and to foster peer-exchange among states on best practices and collaborative responses.

Preparatory work led by the Ministry of Health and Social Security already includes the creation of a national commission and secretariat, broad consultations across sectors and the drafting of a detailed national review report. These steps underscore the whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach that the UHPR requires — extending beyond health ministries to encompass civil-society organisations, private sector actors and academic institutions.

For Luxembourg, hosting the mission is more than a symbolic gesture: it raises the country’s profile as a pro-active contributor to European health security and aligns national action with the broader EU health-emergency preparedness agenda. As global health threats evolve, Luxembourg’s participation signals that even smaller states can play a significant role in setting standards, committing to meaningful reform and sharing lessons regionally.

While the review does not impose legally binding obligations, its value lies in peer accountability, visibility and structured follow-up for capacity-building. As Luxembourg convenes the mission in November, the government emphasises that the exercise will generate concrete next-steps, mobilise domestic and external resources and build momentum for stronger preparedness — ensuring the country is better equipped for whatever health crisis comes next.

WHO - who.int/luxembourg/events/item/2025/11/27/default-calendar/luxembourg-s-universal-health-and-preparedness-review-high-level-mission?utm_source

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