Newsletter - June 2024

1. Editorial
2. EUPHA update
3. European Public Health Conference
4. European Journal of Public Health
5. Call for proposals, job opportunities
6. Interesting news
7. Upcoming courses and conferences
8. Interesting publications
9. European Institutions’ news
10. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control news
11. WHO news

1. Editorial

Thank You for Shaping EUPHA's Future

Dear reader,

The European Public Health Association (EUPHA) has always been a beacon of collaboration, innovation, and impactful action in the realm of public health. As we forge our new strategy for 2025-2030, we wanted it to reflect our 30-year legacy of achievements and be driven by a collective aspiration for transformative impact.
We thank all members and sections who took the time to complete our extensive survey. Your input was at the core of our recent strategic retreat, a significant milestone in shaping EUPHA's strategy for 2025-2030.

Our strategy aims to build bridges for transformative impact, creating a connected, dynamic, and empowered community that fosters continuous learning and drives positive change. We are committed to innovation and will be renewing our digital tools in the coming months to better serve our community.

Your voice, ideas, and dedication are what make EUPHA a force for health, equity, inclusiveness, and sustainability. In the EUPHA update section you will read an inspiring storiy from Manuel Franco, from SESPAS our Spanish Member, telling us how he ended up writing a column in a major national newspaper. If you have inspiring stories to share, please write to us!

Thank you for your ongoing support and participation.

Dr Iveta Nagyova, EUPHA President, and Charlotte Marchandise, Executive Director

2. EUPHA update

EUPHA in Ukraine

EUPHA recently participated in the WHO European Public Health Leadership Courses in Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in November 2023 between EUPHA and the WHO regional office for Europe.
We also met with Dr. Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health, to discuss Ukraine’s public health priorities.
We were inspired by the resilience of Ukrainian public health professionals, and looking forward welcoming Ukrainian Public Health in EUPHA.

Meet the section: Health literacy

Health literacy has evolved into a significant public health topic, representing the link between health and education and encompassing cross-cutting topics including health information management, the information ecosystem, and health decision-making. Health literacy adds to the wealth and depth of the existing public health toolbox. Personal health literacy enables people to access, understand, appraise, and use health information in everyday life to improve and maintain their health and well-being. Health literacy can be linked to healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion and, therefore, is relevant to people in their role as patients as well as everyday citizens. This makes health literacy relevant for all population groups across the life-course and different settings and environments such as homes, schools, workplaces, hospitals, and communities. It also makes health literacy a useful asset in the management of current and future polycrises and the digitalization of health.
As a determinant of health, health literacy is considered a driver for greater health equity in societies. In particular, the most deprived and disadvantaged benefit from health literacy. In this context, health literacy is understood to be a relational concept addressing individuals and systems rooted in a triple health literacy approach: personal, organizational, and professional health literacy. While personal health literacy aims at agency and behaviour change, organizational health literacy aims at structure and social change based on principles of change processes and quality management to reduce barriers, challenges, complexities, and demands put upon people and to optimise organizational and communication processes. Professional health literacy summarises the professional capacities of the workforce to help people achieve the best health and health literacy outcomes.
The Health Literacy Section (HLS) aims at advancing European health literacy by promoting research, training, and practice knowledge and opportunities. We want to stimulate and support joint research projects among our members. HLS serves as a platform for all interested stakeholders and advocates for health literacy within EUPHA and beyond.
Please join our Section through the subscription link on the EUPHA website, follow us on Twitter or Bluesky, and meet us at the EPH Conference during the Join the Network session and in a number of workshops and pre-conferences we organize there.

EUPHA Section-organised events this June

Health Services Research Section
“Translational Health Services Research Methods for Public Health Professionals” THSRM-EUPHA Spring School took place June 27^th – 21^st in Granada, Spain.
The Spring School brought 21 participants and 6 faculty members from 17 European countries together to deepen their knowledge, skills and understanding on how to apply different research methods to solve public health problems. School’s first edition was a 5 days immersive experience of interdisciplinarity and collaboration with an interdisciplinary faculty chaired by Lorena Dini with Piedad Martin-Olmedo, Henk HilderinkShehzad Ali and with Marleen PM Bekker and Chiara de Waure hosted at Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública - EASP possible to funds of the European Commission

Chronic Diseases Section
International Symposium “From single chronic disease to multimorbidity prevention, surveillance, and public health policy: need for multisectoral approaches” took place in Paris, France on June 26^th and 27^th.
Co-organised by EUPHA’s Chronic Diseases Section in collaboration with Santé publique France and Western University from Ontario, Canada, this Symposium offered insightful keynote lectures and panel discussions from Saverio Stranges, Eric Breton, Sarah Cuschieri, Julian Mamo and Iveta Nagyova, just to name a few of engaging high-level speakers that participated.

How I ended up writing a column in "El País"

Manuel Franco´s experience on Public Health Communication and Dissemination. Manuel is the Governing Board representative for SESPAS
In the last year of my PhD, Jon Samet, the Johns Hopkins department of Epidemiology chair, told me: “You have to prepare for difficult questions from the media about details and ideas on your research. You must be ready to talk to media outlets that are both friendly and not so friendly. Prepare for all types of media; printed, radio and television.” And the rest is (this) history...
After two decades of Epidemiology research, I am convinced that Public Health needs to be communicated, both to the general public and to decision makers. And public health communication is a fundamental contributor to the final goal of population health improvements.
During my doctoral training, I could collaborate with researchers in Chicago, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Cienfuegos, Cuba. As a result of this international collaboration I published what was probably the first one country natural experiment, born of unfortunate circumstances, where a maintained economic crisis in the whole Cuban population lead to sustained population-wide weight loss having large effects on diabetes, cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. This 2007 publication was highlighted by The New York Times, the National Public Radio and other media who called me for an interview as the department chair warned. I was definitely a very young researcher exposed to the media in a foreign language.
Social epidemiologists we a strong interest on describing the social and historical contexts that shape population health. And documentary and photography are important pieces for detailed descriptions. As such, the first publications of my doctoral thesis work on food environment inequalities in the city of Baltimore were two photo-essays in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and the American Journal of Public Health. Some of those pictures still hang at the Johns Hopkins Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research.
When I published in the British Medical Journal a second Cuba based analysis accompanied by an editorial piece by Dr. Walter Willet we included one of the first BMJ video abstract with over seven thousand visualizations. The Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde, Le Figaro, The Atlantic and El País among other media outlets interviewed us about this research.
Urban Health research has been one of the focuses of my career, both in the US and Europe. Back in Madrid I received the first ever urban health European Research Council Starting Grant, the Heart Healthy Hoods project, to understand how the urban social and physical environment relates to cardiovascular health and chronic diseases. Thanks to this funding, a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, geographers, sociologists, journalists, photographers, graphic designers, primary care professionals and other public health people, we have worked together over a decade training seven PhD students, eleven master students and publishing over 30 articles. The continuous collaboration with journalists in all type of media and learning how to communicate science has been part of the Heart Healthy Hoods team training. In the first years of this project I took a storytelling weekend course with Mario Tascón, one of the most important journalists and communicators in Spanish speaking language of the last decades.
During and after the COVID-19 pandemic science, and public health specifically, got a lot of attention in general and specialized media. During the most intense months of the pandemic, a team of the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS) professionals we participated in TV programs, Spanish TV news, Spanish Radio stations, and attended foreign correspondents. Since the pandemic, SESPAS has expanded its communication team paying for a well-established communication company to run our campaigns, webpage, social media, and contacts with the media. In the summer of 2023 SESPAS we organized a Public Health communication summer course with top Spanish journalists form radio stations, TV channels, specialized media, documentary film makers that got together for two days with public health professionals to discuss the best way of communicating public health.
As part of my research interest along with colleagues in Mexico and the US, we wrote a column highlighting how COVID-19 inequalities in terms of infection, morbidity and mortality shaped the reality of the pandemic in the cities of Madrid, New York City and Mexico City. This column ended up being a documentary film for the Spanish National TV (RTVE). Collaborating with the team as the science editor of this documentary film was a true learning experience that helped me understand the living conditions and context of underserved urban communities during the pandemic.
Collaborating with excellent communication professionals is not only important, but also enlightening and interesting as these professionals know very well the reality of our countries and populations, sometimes much better than us, public health professionals.
In the current world of climate crisis, my research is moving towards understanding how extreme temperatures affect population health specially in underserved communities.  Public Health communication becomes more important than ever in the times of science mistrust. It is fundamental to bring knowledge, science, scientists, to the core of communication along with journalists, artists, educators, politicians, and other leaders to discuss the major complex issues in our evolving planet.
 
As Urban Health remains the main research line in my career I was invited to contribute to El País new Health and Wellbeing section with a column “La salud va por barrios” (a possible English translation may be “Health is a neighborhood thing”). Over the last two years I have written columns touching different urban health themes and processes as the use of public parks, urban food systems, gentrification and touristification processes, and heat waves in relation to urban populations health. The column has been well received as it attempts to bring science and international knowledge closer to different readers (with explanations and links to articles) using simple language and an atractive narrative.
The Public Health community, we need to communicate our research and knowledge, both to public and to decision makers to effectively contribute to population health improvements. And EUPHA is a major platform for doing this necessary task.

EUPHA welcomes new WHO EURO report on commercial determinants of health

EUPHA strongly endorses the landmark report by the European Regional Office of WHO setting out the need for concerted action against those industries that are driving an epidemic of some of the leading causes of disability and premature death in Europe and commits to working with WHO to take this agenda forward.
Read the statement here.

4. European Public Health Conference

17^th EPH CONFERENCE, LISBON, PORTUGAL

Pre-Conferences 11 – 12 NOVEMBER
Main Conference 13 – 15 NOVEMBER
Theme: SAILING THE WAVES OF EUROPEAN PUBLIC HEALTH: EXPLORING A SEA OF INNOVATION

Abstract submission results

We received 3,364 abstracts of which 312 abstracts for workshops. Abstracts have been reviewed and you can access the decision on your abstract by logging into your personal account here. Accepted abstracts are published in the Abstract Supplement of the European Journal of Public Health but only if you have registered for and presented at the Lisbon conference.

Next steps for accepted abstracts

If your abstract is accepted, these are your next steps:

1. Corrections: check your abstract by logging into your personal account here. The system accepts your corrections until 15 July 2024, noon (12.00 CET).
2. Registration/confirmation: confirm that you are presenting your abstract by registering for the conference before 15 July 2024. If you do not register your abstract will not be included in the conference programme and the Abstract Supplement of the European Journal of Public Health. If you are organizing a workshop, all your presenters must register. Read more.

Pre-conference programme

We are excited to announce an interesting programme of pre-conferences on Monday and Tuesday 11 and 12 November. If you would like to attend a pre-conference, registration is required. Pre-conferences can be booked when registering for the main conference. You can add a pre-conference to your existing registration by sending an email with your preferred pre-conference to registration@ephconference.eu.

Thematic fields include cancer prevention; health literacy; European Health Data Space; Artificial Intelligence; digital health; strategic foresight methodology; behavioural and cultural insights; social security, work and health; prevention and preparedness; syndromic surveillance systems; enhancing your writing skills; and future health scenarios. Detailed information here.

Theme and programme

The theme of this year’s EPH Conference Sailing the waves of European public health: exploring a sea of innovation, reflects our collective journey. Just as explorers once set out from Lisbon to discover new worlds, we as public health professionals are embarking on a journey of innovation and discovery in our own field. We aim to push the boundaries, discover new approaches and chart the course for the future of public health in Europe. The focus of our journey will be on:

• Artificial Intelligence in Public Health. Organised by WHO Regional Office for Europe, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
• Global Health: do European public health efforts contribute to global health solutions? Organised by EUPHA and ASPHER. With Charles Agyemang, Professor of Global Migration, Ethnicity and Health at Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam; Elena Petelos, President EUPHA Global health section, and other speakers to be confirmed;
• Health Inequalities: looking at innovative strategies that can be employed to reduce disparities and ensure equitable access to health care. Organised by EuroHealthNet. Speakers to be confirmed.
• One Health in Europe: from concept to practice. Organised by European Commission and ECDC. With Sandra Gallina, Director General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission; Nicole Grobert, Chair of Group of Chief Scientific Advisors at European Commission; Stef Bronzwaer, European Food Safety Authority, Cross-Agency One Health Task Force; Susana Pombo, Chief Veterinary Officer, Portugal and President World Organisation for Animal Health.
• Social Marketing in Public Health: presenting innovative campaigns, digital and community engagement techniques to promote healthier behaviours. Organised by EHMA.

Registration is open with benefits for EUPHA members

Registration for the Lisbon 2024 is open. You can benefit from early bird registration fees until 1 September. EUPHA members and delegates from Portugal pay € 690 before 1 September, non-members € 790. Students, trainees and colleagues from low- and middle-income countries pay € 400. All fees mentioned including VAT. More information here.

Funding opportunities

EUPHA and EPH Conference Foundation have set up the Jouke van der Zee Fund offering registration fee waivers to delegates from lower-middle and upper-middle income countries in the WHO European Region and have an active role at the EPH Conference 2024. You may apply for a waiver if you have an oral/poster presentation or being a speaker/panelist in a workshop and come from one of the eligible countries (listed at our website). Deadline for applications: 1 July 2024. Read more.

Conferência de Saúde Pública da Lusofonia

We are excited to announce the “Conferência de Saúde Pública da Lusofonia” on 11 and 12 November at the Lisbon Congress Center (CCL), strengthening cooperation in public health between the nine Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP). The conference language will be Portuguese. Simultaneous translation into English will be provided. Read more here.

Registration is through the EPH Conference registration panel. The Lusophone Public Health Conference is organized by EPH Conference, the Portuguese Association for Public Health (APPSP) and the National Association of Public Health Doctors (ANMSP).

Travel and hotel accommodation

You are advised to book your travel and accommodation early. TAP Air Portugal has been appointed as the Official Airline Carrier of the 17th EPH Conference in Lisbon and kindly offers delegates of the EPH Conference a 10 per cent discount. More here.
Hotel bookings are handled by our travel partner Forum d’Ideias. On the EPH Conference website you find a link to the hotel accommodation. More here.

Welcome to Lisbon 2024

The 17^th EPH Conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 12 – 15 November 2024. Theme of the EPH conference 2024 is: Sailing the waves of European public health: exploring a sea of innovation. The main conference is from 13 – 15 November. Pre-conferences will be held on 11 and 12 November. The 17th EPH Conference will be held at the Lisbon Congress Center (CCL). Click here for a virtual tour.

4. European Journal of Public Health

Volume 34, Issue 3, June 2024

Editorials
From ‘evidence-based’ towards ‘value-based’ public health: measuring what matters most 
Mariana Dyakova and others
Social media as a determinant of health 
Amrit Kaur Purba and others

Social determinants
COVID-19, social determinants of transmission in the home. A population-based study 
Jesús Soriano López and others
Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-rated health and mental distress during four decades in a Norwegian population: a HUNT Study 
Hanne Dahl Vonen and others
Sex-dependent effect of socioeconomic status on cardiovascular event risk in a population-based cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes 
Mónica Enguita-Germán and others
Increased mortality in socioeconomic disadvantaged municipalities during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lombardy region 
Gianfranco Alicandro and others

Health policy
Sugar tax and product reformulation proposals reduce the perceived legitimacy of health-promotion institutions: a randomized population-based survey experiment 
Tim van Meurs and others
Health policy developments in the Western Balkan Countries 2000–19: towards European Health and Health Care Policies 
Fatime Arenliu Qosaj and Margaret Bourdeaux

Health and wellbeing
A systematic review of literature examining the application of a social model of health and wellbeing 
Rachel Rahman and others
Longitudinal reciprocal associations between volunteering, health and well-being: evidence for middle-aged and older adults in Europe 
Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska and others

Work and health
Development of a workforce self-assessment tool for public health emergency preparedness 
Jessica S Hayes and others
Employment outcomes of people with Long Covid symptoms: community-based cohort study 
Daniel Ayoubkhani and others
Association between work sick-leave absenteeism and SARS-CoV-2 notifications in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 epidemic 
Martijn G Keet and others

Child and adolescent health
Once in NEET, always in NEET? Childhood and adolescent risk factors for different NEET patterns 
Karin Veldman and others
Factors impacting complementary feeding advice given by paediatricians in Cyprus 
Dona Hileti and Markianos Kokkinos
Pediatric post COVID-19 condition: an umbrella review of the most common symptoms and associated factors 
Aurora Heidar Alizadeh and others

Migration and health
Duration of residence and offspring birth weight among foreign-born mothers in Spain: a cross-sectional study 
Chiara Dello Iacono and others
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Barriers and drivers to COVID-19 vaccination among the migrant and non-migrant population in Germany, 2021 
Elisa Wulkotte and others
Comparing healthcare needs by language: interpreted Arabic and Somali telehealth calls in two regions of Sweden, 2014–18 
Leah J Martin and others

Environment and health
Implementation of climate adaptation in the public health sector in Europe: qualitative thematic analysis 
Grace A Turner and others
Health-related quality of life 1 year after a large-scale industrial fire among exposed inhabitants of Rouen, France: ‘The Post Fire 76 Health’ study 
Maria El Haddad and others

Smoking
Evolution and characteristics of studies estimating attributable mortality to second-hand smoke: a systematic review 
Diana C López-Medina and others
Changing smoking habits and the occurrence of lung cancer in Sweden—a population analysis 
Bengt Järvholm and others
Productivity costs of lifelong smoking—the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study 
Ina Rissanen and others

Cardiovascular disease
Exploring sex variations in the incidence of cardiovascular events: a counterfactual decomposition analysis 
Sara Castel-Feced and others
Is the long-term poor prognosis of acute myocardial infarction in patients with mental illness mediated through their poor adherence with recommended healthcare? 
Giovanni Corrao and others

Covid-19
Examining potential Long COVID effects through utilization of healthcare resources: a retrospective, population-based, matched cohort study comparing individuals with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection 
Luigi Castriotta and others
Influencing factors on the psychosomatic health of medical staff since the normalized stage of COVID-19 in mainland China 
Xing-ai Jiao and others
Regional excess mortality in France during COVID-19 pandemic: the first three epidemic periods (March 2020–June 2021) 
Marlène Faisant and others

European public health news
Editorial: putting patients first: revolutionizing mental health care 
Charlotte Marchandise and others

5. Call for proposals, job opportunities

Communication and Policy Assistant EUREGHA

Do you want to develop your career in European public health affairs and healthcare, with a particular focus on communication? Are you interested in supporting the important role that regional and local authorities in shaping, implementing and delivering health policies? EUREGHA is looking for a new Communication and Policy Assistant, starting as soon as possible.
Read more here

Tuition-free PhD Programme in Global Health at the Charité in Berlin

The structured PhD program Global Health at the Charité is a collaboration between seven partnering institutions. It aims to train excellent scientists for leadership positions in global health. The program imparts an interdisciplinary  perspective on health and a sensitivity to inter-cultural factors affecting health.
Read more here

TRANSiTION Training program APPLICATION FORM

EU-funded TRANSiTION project invites you to participate in the Training Program carried out in the framework of the project. The proposal aims to improve the digital competences of clinical/non-clinical professionals, supporting their safe and effective use of existing digital tools, while increasing their readiness and willingness to adopt new ones. The training is expected to improve and re-skill clinical/non-clinical professionals in terms of use of digital solutions and digital readiness, but also to support a faster transition towards more efficient, cost-effective, and patient-centred healthcare models.
Read more here

ONCODIR Survey on socioeconomic barriers to colorectal cancer prevention – Have your say!

The ONCODIR project invites you to participate in a survey to improve health-related quality of life and develop effective health services in Europe in the realm of colorectal cancer.
Read more here

6. Interesting news

With national health systems under unprecedented stress, a European Health Union is badly needed (EURACTIV)

Frank Vandenbroucke writes that Europe needs a ‘true’ European Health Union to guarantee the survival of national health systems.
Read more here

A scientist’s opinion: Interview with Hannes Jarke about the mental health of young people

WHO data show that young people aged 18-29 are 30% to 80% more likely to report symptoms of depression or anxiety than adults. What are the primary reasons for this, and how have these trends evolved?
Read more here

More unhealthy behaviour among young people; their health remains vulnerable (RIVM, The Netherlands)

Fewer young people aged 12 to 16 are positive about their health than in previous years. In addition, their mental health has not recovered after the COVID-19 pandemic. There has also been an increase in unhealthy behaviour, such as vaping and problematic use of social media. These are some of the results from the 2023 Youth Health Monitor, a survey of more than 188,000 Year 9 and 11 students in mainstream secondary education conducted by the Municipal Public Health Services and RIVM in the autumn of 2023.
Read more here

How climate change is hitting Europe: three graphics reveal health impacts (Nature)

A growing body of research reveals the deaths and diseases linked to rising temperatures across the continent.
Read more here

‘Health for All’ via primary health care is backed by evidence – and is a political choice 

Reorienting health systems through a primary health care (PHC) lens is the best way to advance the goal of affordable health care for all. However, the realization of this vision hinges upon both political leadership and financial commitment to put the evidence into practice. This was emphasized by PHC experts during a side event of the 77^th World Health Assembly in Geneva on 27 May 2024.
Read more here

7. Upcoming courses and conferences

8. Interesting publications

RIVER-EU project newsletter is out. It brings you current and relevant information on equitable access to vaccination.

In the European Union, every child has a fundamental right to access health services. Equitable health systems should respond to the needs of all children, no matter their living or economic conditions. RIVER-EU is implementing tailor-made interventions to reduce health system barriers for HPV and/or MMR vaccination.
Read the Newsletter here.

Health burden and costs attributable to the carbon footprint of the health sector in the European Union (Environment International)

CO2 emissions from the health sector are expected to significantly impact human health. Therefore, it is important to ensure that EU climate policies for public buildings are in line with the Paris Agreement, increase funding for climate mitigation programs within the healthcare sector, and review clinical practices at the local level.
Read more here

European Drug Report 2024 (EMCDDA)

The European Drug Report 2024: Trends and Developments presents the EMCDDA’s latest analysis of the drug situation in Europe. Focusing on illicit drug use, related harms and drug supply, the report provides a comprehensive set of national data across these themes, as well as on specialist drug treatment and key harm reduction interventions.
Read more here

Design Creativity (THIS.Institute)

The latest in the Elements of Improving Quality and Safety in Healthcare series of THIS.Institute’s Cambridge Elements publications on Design creativity describes the process by which needs are explored and translated into requirements for change. This Element examines the role of design creativity within the context of healthcare improvement.
Read more here

A systematic review of whether Health Impact Assessment (HIA) frameworks support best practice principles (Public Health)

There is marked variation in the degree to which HIA frameworks support the best practice principles. HIA practitioners could select elements from different frameworks for practical guidance to meet all the best practice principles.
Read more here

Number of palliative care nurse home visits and duration of palliative care associated with domains of the Good Death Inventory: A national survey of bereaved family caregivers in a middle income country (International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances)

This paper provides new directions for improvements in palliative care services in low-middle-income countries, such as Kazakhstan, giving impetus for resource allocation to palliative care home visits by nurses for achieving a good death for greater numbers of patients.
Read more here

Cancer prevention, early detection, and screening - EU citizen perceptions and experiences (EU publications)

To support the Cancer Mission, a series of focus groups were organised with citizens in six EU Member States: Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, France, Lithuania, and Malta. Focus groups addressed cancer awareness, prevention, early detection, and screening. This study underlined the importance of improving information and communication on cancer prevention and early detection and screening for EU citizens. More and better actions are needed to address barriers and support citizens in preventing cancer.
Read more here

Empowering people, communities, and civil society through social participation (Eurohealth)

This special issue seeks to clarify and explain what social participation is about, why it should be prioritised, and how it can be advanced at country level. The voices of key constituencies present the pertinence of social participation for them now, and their priorities for its implementation. The articles tackle key questions around policy uptake, representation, capacities, monitoring and evaluation, financing, and sustaining engagement over time. This Eurohealth was launched at the World Health Assembly on 28 May 2024.
Read more here

European support for improving global health systems and policies

The EU has huge impact – and huge potential impact – on global health. It is one of the world’s largest markets, aid donors, health care innovators and trading powers. It influences global health and health policy directly and indirectly, through its explicit global health policies and through the effect of its other policies on global health.
Read more here

9. European Institutions’ news

Antonio Parenti appointed Director for Public Health at the European Commission (EU News)

He is currently head of the Representative Office in Italy. He was head of the Economics Section at the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, where he oversaw the preparation of the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on universal health coverage.
Read more here

Interested in Horizon EU funding for health research?

Check out the hashtag#HorizonEU ‘Health’ open calls:
European partnership: One Health anti-microbial resistance (Deadline: 25 September)

European partnership for pandemic preparedness;  Implementation research for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of non-communicable diseases; Pre-commercial procurement for environmentally-sustainable, climate-neutral and circular health and care systems (Deadline: 26 November)
Read more here

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies events

Check out the past events held recently.

• Accelerating primary health care transformation with evidence (World Health Assembly side event)  - 27 May 2024
• Moving from principles to action on social participation for UHC, health and well-being (World Health Assembly side event) - 28 May 2024
• Broadening the role of pharmaceutical services in primary care - 27 June 2024. 

10. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control news

Eurosurveillance - Volume 29, Issue 26, 27 June 2024

Rapid communication
Oropouche fever cases diagnosed in Italy in two epidemiologically non-related travellers from Cuba, late May to early June 2024
Concetta Castilletti, Antonio Mori, Andrea Matucci, Niccolò Ronzoni, Lukas Van Duffel, Giada Rossini, Pietro Sponga, Maria Luca D’Errico, Paola Rodari, Francesco Cristini, Ralph Huits  and Federico Giovanni Gobbi

Outbreaks
Nosocomial outbreak caused by disinfectant-resistant Serratia marcescens in an adult intensive care unit, Hungary, February to March 2022
Adrienn Hanczvikkel, Ákos Tóth, Irén Anna Kopcsóné Németh, Orsolya Bazsó, Lőrinc Závorszky, Lilla Buzgó, Virág Lesinszki, Dániel Göbhardter, Erika Ungvári, Ivelina Damjanova, Attila Erőss  and Ágnes Hajdu

Research
A longitudinal study on SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion, reinfection and neutralisation spanning several variant waves and vaccination campaigns, Heinsberg, Germany, April 2020 to November 2022
Bianca Schulte, Enrico Richter, Antonia Büning, Maximilian Baum, Annika Breuer, Jasmin Zorn, Julia König, Melanie Geiger, Monika Eschbach-Bludau, Johanna Heuser, Dominik Zölzer, Marek Korencak, Ronja Hollstein, Eva Beins, Dorian Emmert, Souhaib Aldabbagh, Anna Maria Eis-Hübinger  and Hendrik Streeck

Eurosurveillance - Volume 29, Issue 25, 20 June 2024

Editorial
One health, many interpretations: vaccinating risk groups against H5 avian influenza in Finland
Hanna Nohynek  and Otto Matias Helve

Rapid communication
An unusual outbreak of parvovirus B19 infections, France, 2023 to 2024
Camille d’Humières, Anne Fouillet, Laura Verdurme, Stevens-Boris Lakoussan, Yves Gallien, Catherine Coignard, Marie Hervo, Anne Ebel, Anaïs Soares, Benoit Visseaux, Bruno Maire, Pierre-Henry Juan, Isabelle Parent du Châtelet, Jean-Paul Guthmann  and Julien Durand

Outbreaks
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infections on fur farms connected to mass mortalities of black-headed gulls, Finland, July to October 2023
Lauri Kareinen, Niina Tammiranta, Ari Kauppinen, Bianca Zecchin, Ambra Pastori, Isabella Monne, Calogero Terregino, Edoardo Giussani, Riikka Kaarto, Veera Karkamo, Tanja Lähteinen, Hanna Lounela, Tuija Kantala, Ilona Laamanen, Tiina Nokireki, Laura London, Otto Helve, and others

Research
Association between adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody concentrations, the Netherlands, May 2021 to November 2022: a population-based prospective cohort study
Minke R Holwerda, Christina E Hoeve, Anne J Huiberts, Gerco den Hartog, Hester E de Melker, Susan van den Hof  and Mirjam J Knol

Systematic Review
WILDbase: towards a common database to improve wildlife disease surveillance in Europe
Marieke P de Cock, Valérie O Baede, Sara R Wijburg, Sara A Burt, Robert FNA van Tiel, Kim K Wiskerke, Jens RJ van der Post, Wim HM van der Poel, Hein Sprong  and Miriam Maas

Eurosurveillance - Volume 29, Issue 24, 13 June 2024

Rapid communication
|Increase of pertussis cases in the Vallès region, Catalonia, Spain, September 2023 to April 2024
Violeta Poltorak, Alba Cabré-Riera, Ferran Martínez-Botías, Eva Borràs López, Laura Clotet Romero, Maria Rosa Sala Farré, Mireia Jané Checa  and Working Group for surveillance of pertussis in Vallès
Epidemic of parvovirus B19 and disease severity in pregnant people, Denmark, January to March 2024
Anne Christine Nordholm, Frederik Trier Møller, Signe Fischer Ravn, Lotte Flink Sørensen, Anja Moltke-Prehn, Jacob Elskær Mollerup, Tjede Funk, Lene Sperling, Ulisa Jeyaratnam, Kristina Træholt Franck, Karina Hjort-Pedersen, Christina Hjørnet Kamper, Rikke Thoft Nielsen, Pikka Jokelainen  and Maria Wessman

Surveillance
Hepatitis E virus infections in German blood donors: results of 8 years of screening, 2015 to 2022
Ricarda Plümers, Jens Dreier, Cornelius Knabbe, André Gömer, Eike Steinmann, Daniel Todt  and Tanja Vollmer

Research
The impact of living conditions and health interventions on tuberculosis, Denmark, 1876 to 2022
Anne Christine Nordholm, Anja Joergensen, Louise Hedevang Holm, Aase Bengaard Andersen, Anders Koch, Peter Henrik Andersen  and Troels Lillebaek

Perspective
Refugees from Ukraine receiving antiretroviral therapy in destination countries and territories of the World Health Organization European Region, including EU/EEA countries, February 2022 to March 2023
Giorgi Kuchukhidze, Machiko Otani, Stela Bivol, Teymur Noori  and on behalf of the ECDC/WHO HIV Surveillance network

Eurosurveillance - Volume 29, Issue 23, 06 June 2024

Rapid communication
Pertussis outbreak in neonates and young infants across Italy, January to May 2024: implications for vaccination strategies
Marco Poeta, Cristina Moracas, Chiara Albano, Laura Petrarca, Marco Maglione, Luca Pierri, Maurizio Carta, Paolo Montaldo, Elisabetta Venturini, Maia De Luca, Danilo Buonsenso, Ilaria Brambilla, Vania Giacomet, Andrea Lo Vecchio, Eugenia Bruzzese, Fabio Midulla, Claudia Colomba  and Alfredo Guarino

Surveillance
Surveillance of vancomycin-resistant enterococci reveals shift in dominating clusters from vanA to vanB Enterococcus faecium clusters, Denmark, 2015 to 2022
Anette M Hammerum, Kasper Thystrup Karstensen, Louise Roer, Hülya Kaya, Mikkel Lindegaard, Lone Jannok Porsbo, Anne Kjerulf, Mette Pinholt, Barbara Juliane Holzknecht, Peder Worning, Karen Leth Nielsen, Sanne Grønvall Kjær Hansen, Marianne Clausen, Turid S Søndergaard, and others

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution by a centralised pipeline and weekly focused sequencing, Austria, January 2021 to March 2023
Olga Frank, David Acitores Balboa, Maria Novatchkova, Ezgi Özkan, Marcus Martin Strobl, Ramesh Yelagandula, Tanino Guiseppe Albanese, Lukas Endler, Fabian Amman, Vera Felsenstein, Milanka Gavrilovic, Melanie Acosta, Timothej Patocka, Alexander Vogt, Ido Tamir, Julia Klikovits, and others

Research
Dissemination of extensively drug-resistant NDM-producing Providencia stuartii in Europe linked to patients transferred from Ukraine, March 2022 to March 2023
Sandra Witteveen, Jörg B Hans, Radosław Izdebski, Henrik Hasman, Ørjan Samuelsen, Laurent Dortet, Yvonne Pfeifer, Niall Delappe, Jesús Oteo-Iglesias, Dorota Żabicka, Martin Cormican, Mirco Sandfort, Felix Reichert, Anna K Pöntinen, Martin A Fischer, Nelianne Verkaik, and others

Eurosurveillance - Volume 29, Issue 22, 30 May 2024

Rapid communication
Adapting response to a measles outbreak in a context of high vaccination and breakthrough cases: an example from Vaud, Switzerland, January to March 2024
Alessandro Cassini, Ludovico Cobuccio, Emmanouil Glampedakis, Pascal Cherpillod, Pierre Alex Crisinel, Francisco-Javier Pérez-Rodríguez, Monica Attinger, Dominique Bachelin, Marie Nahimana Tessemo, Mirjam Maeusezahl, Céline Gardiol  and Karim Boubaker

Outbreaks
Large hospital outbreak caused by OXA-244-producing Escherichia coli sequence type 38, Poland, 2023
Radosław Izdebski, Marta Biedrzycka, Paweł Urbanowicz, Dorota Żabicka, Teresa Błauciak, Dorota Lechowicz, Beata Gałecka-Ziółkowska  and Marek Gniadkowski

Research
Impact and economic analysis of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-targeted antenatal screening, England and Wales, 2021
Carolina Rosadas, Milene Costa, Kátia Senna, Marisa Santos  and Graham P Taylor

11. WHO news

Working together to identify the hazards that could impact UEFA EURO 2024

From 14 June to 14 July, Germany is hosting the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Football Championship – UEFA EURO 2024. With nearly 3 million football enthusiasts gathering to celebrate the games, a new dashboard is helping health authorities and fans to stay abreast of potential hazards that could impact the tournament and the well-being of those involved.
Read more here

Nearly 1.8 billion adults at risk of disease from not doing enough physical activity (WHO)

New data show that nearly one third (31%) of adults worldwide, approximately 1.8 billion people, did not meet the recommended levels of physical activity in 2022. The findings point to a worrying trend of physical inactivity among adults, which has increased by about 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2022. 
Read more here

Over 3 million annual deaths due to alcohol and drug use, majority among men (WHO)

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year were attributable to alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7% of all deaths, and 0.6 million deaths to psychoactive drug use. Notably, 2 million of alcohol and 0.4 million of drug-attributable deaths were among men.
Read more here

WHO releases report on state of development of antibacterials (WHO)

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its latest report on antibacterial agents, including antibiotics, in clinical and preclinical development worldwide. Although the number of antibacterial agents in the clinical pipeline increased from 80 in 2021 to 97 in 2023, there is a pressing need for new, innovative agents for serious infections and to replace those becoming ineffective due to widespread use.
Read more here

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or HaDEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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