EUPHA Section-led policy sessions at EPH Conference 2026

10:30-11:30, Room 0b

This round table traces how digital public health has moved from using digital tools to deliver public health functions towards understanding digital transformation as a determinant of health in its own right. Researchers and practitioners from Canada, Europe and global institutions discuss what building institutional capacity requires, from workforce skills and governance to system maturity and emergency preparedness.

Chairs: Tina D. Purnat and Stefan Buttigieg

Organised by the EUPHA Sections on Global Health, Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence, and Health Literacy, together with the WFPHA Working Group on Global Health Equity & Digital Technologies and the Public Health Association of British Columbia.

10:30-11:30, Room 3g

Four recent applied foresight studies show how public health foresight is being used to anticipate future challenges and inform policy: a European cancer knowledge study with a Belgian national exercise, a Delphi study on future public health system challenges, a global public health risk assessment, and a Dutch study on palliative care in 2050. The session discusses what makes foresight genuinely usable by decision-makers and how to turn insights into policy action.

Chair: Henk Hilderink

Organised by the EUPHA Section on Foresight, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Instituto Superior Técnico.

15:15-16:15, Room 3g

Using three scenarios (underinvestment in health worker education in Ireland, overinvestment in education without matching health system investment in sub-Saharan Africa, and the integration of refugee health and care workers from Ukraine), this round table explores how changing geopolitical conditions shape health workforce migration. Experts, European policy-makers and WHO Europe discuss practical recommendations to strengthen the WHO Global Code of Practice and EU governance tools.

Chairs: Marius-Ionut Ungureanu and Ellen Kuhlmann

Organised by the EUPHA Sections on Health and Care Workforce and Public Health Practice and Policy, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Workforce Policy and Planning.

15:15-16:15, Melia Hotel, Meeting Rooms 3+4

The way we measure the economic burden of disease shapes policy decisions, and different methods can lead to different priorities. This round table compares market-based approaches, such as cost-of-illness studies, with non-market valuation methods, such as the value of a statistical life and the value of a life year, and discusses how they can be better integrated into decisions on investment in prevention and public health.

Chairs: João Vasco Santos and Brecht Devleesschauw

Organised by the EUPHA Section on Public Health Economics and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

15:15-16:15, Room 3f

Societal resilience depends on human behaviour, mental wellbeing and community ties as much as on healthcare capacity. Drawing on evidence from multihazard approaches, pandemics, the 2024 Valencia floods and armed conflict, this session explores how individual, community and system-level approaches can be integrated in preparedness planning, followed by an interactive discussion with experts from ECDC and UQAM. Bridging gaps between institutions and communities is key to building trust and resilience.

Chairs: Irina Ljungqvist and Kim Lavoie

Organised by the EUPHA Section on Behavioural and Social Science, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM, Netherlands), Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada), the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain), Heidelberg University (Germany), Tampere University (Finland), the Directorate-General of Health (DGS, Portugal) and European University Cyprus.

15:15-15:45, Melia Hotel, Meeting Room 7

This skills-building session shows how linked routine health data, artificial intelligence and advanced epidemiological methods can be used to profile disease burden, estimate disability and forecast disease trajectories, with neurological conditions as the main case studies. It also covers quantitative frameworks for health planning and priority-setting, and health economic modelling for policy simulation under real-world budget constraints.

Chairs: Raffaele Palladino and Saverio Stranges

Organised by the Department of Public Health, University of Naples Federico II, and the EUPHA Sections on Chronic Diseases and Public Health Economics.

15:15-16:15, Room 0d

Systems to monitor women’s health across Europe remain fragmented, with key indicators missing, not disaggregated by gender or lacking an intersectional perspective. Using country examples and national women’s health reports, this round table highlights the added value of robust, gender-sensitive monitoring and discusses how better data, targeted investment and stronger political commitment can support gender-responsive health policy.

Chairs: Vanessa Gorasso and Franziska Prütz

Organised by Sciensano, the Robert Koch Institute and the EUPHA Section on Public Health Economics.

15:45-16:15, Melia Hotel, Meeting Room 6

The Joint Action CIRCE-JA has transferred six innovative best practices in primary health care across 40 rural and urban sites in diverse European health systems. This session presents its main outcomes, the enablers and barriers to implementation, scale-up and sustainability, and the European Primary Healthcare Observatory as its legacy, showing that structured transfer of best practices is achievable and can help accelerate primary care reform across the EU.

Chair: Elena Petelos

Organised by the CIRCE-JA consortium and the European Commission.

17:15-17:45, Melia Hotel, Meeting Room 6

This session gives an overview of the types of EU legislation (regulations, directives and decisions), what they mean for Member States’ autonomy and which are most relevant for health. Using the Health Technology Assessment Regulation as a case study, and testimonies from two young professionals who worked on its preparation and implementation, it shows how EU legislation is prepared and put into practice, and how early-career professionals can contribute.

Chairs: Chiara De Waure and Chiara Cadeddu

Organised by the EUPHA Sections on Health Technology Assessment and Law and Public Health, with EUPHAnxt.

11:45-12:45, Room 0e>1

Mental Health in All Policies (MHiAP) is a practical way of working across sectors to address the social determinants of mental health upstream. This round table showcases examples from across Europe, including the Dutch Mental Health Policy Test, Sweden’s 10-year national strategy and pilot actions from the Joint Action JA MENTOR in Slovenia and Estonia, and invites participants to identify concrete actions for cross-sector collaboration.

Chairs: Juliane Winkelmann and Jayati Das-Munshi

Organised by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, TU Berlin, the Trimbos Institute, RIVM, PHAS, NJIZ and the EUPHA Section on Public Mental Health.