Newsletter – August 2023

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

1. Editorial

We welcome everybody back after the holiday season. As you can see in this August newsletter edition, despite the summer period, again we have a lot of public health news to share. There are new blogs by EUPHA interns, announcements for two interesting webinars by EUPHA sections, and we welcome a new EUPHA member from Serbia, jsut to highlight a few updates. In addition to EUPHA updates, as usual you can find in this newsletter news and publications from EUPHA’s partners and the wider public health community from across Europe.

Enjoy the read!

Iveta Nagyova, EUPHA president and Marieke Verschuuren, EUPHA Executive director 

2. EUPHA update

EUPHA intern blogs

The past months we had the pleasure of two interns supporting us with various activities and tasks (thank you Julian and Adrianna!). They have written up their experiences and reflections in a blog. Want to know all about their work and activities? Read their blogs here. 

First HealthData@EU Pilot Stakeholder forum, 19 October 2023, Paris & online – Register Now!

Together with 16 European partners, EUPHA is involved in the HealthData@EU pilot project, coordinated by the French Health Data Hub. 
Launched in October 2022, the HealthData@EU Pilot project is a two-year European project co-funded by the EU4Health programme. The pilot project aims to develop and test a first version of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) infrastructure for the secondary use of health data. The project will connect data platforms in a network infrastructure and develop services supporting the user journey for research projects using health data from various EU Member States. It will also provide guidelines for data standards, data quality, data security and data transfer to support this cross-border infrastructure (more information on the HealthData@EU pilot project website).
The stakeholder forum is a public event, intended for experts, professionals and decision-makers in the (digital) health sector across Europe and will be the opportunity for the project partners to present and discuss the development of the project and its first outcomes, the challenges experienced, and the work ahead.  
If you are interested in joining this event, please register here!

EUPHA accepted for WHO Civil Society Commission

We were pleased to learn that EUPHA has been accepted to participate in the WHO Civil Society Commission. This Commission was officially launched by the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on 24 August 2023, during the inaugural meeting of the Civil Society Commission Steering Committee. Its goal is, taking into consideration the civil society’s voices available to WHO, to support WHO’s efforts towards improving engagement between WHO and civil society at global, regional, and national levels, rendering it more systematic with the aim of advancing WHO’s work and public health outcomes. We look forward to collaborating with WHO and other civil society stakeholders to ensure good health for all. More information on the WHO Civil Society Commission can be found here. 

EUPHA webinars from the Foresight and Chronic diseases sections

Mark your calendars for upcoming EUPHA webinars organised by two of our thematic networks.
On 22 September there will be the webinar organised by the EUPHA Foresight section titled WHO Global Health Foresight: looking forward to best harness the power of science and research. And in October the first from a series of webinars by the EUPHA Chronic diseases section will take place, titled Chronic Disease Prevention in the Era of Multimorbidity: Challenges and Opportunities.
More information is available on the EUPHA webinars webpage. 

3. European Public Health Conference

16^th EUROPEAN PUBLIC HEALTH CONFERENCE, DUBLIN, IRELAND, 8 – 11 NOVEMBER 2023
OUR FOOD, OUR HEALTH, OUR EARTH: A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR HUMANITY

One more day early registration fee

More than 1,800 colleagues have already registered. You can benefit from early bird registration fees until 1 September. Reduction is offered to EUPHA members and colleagues from Ireland. Register here.

Pre-conference programme

We offer a fully packed programme of pre-conferences on Wednesday 8 November. See our website. Attending a pre-conference requires separate registration. This can be done during the registration for the main conference, but also by adding a pre-conference to your existing registration at a later date. Registration fees are €75 (half day) and €150 (full day). Sponsored pre-conferences are €20. (All sessions inclusive network buffet lunch).

Theme and plenary programme

The in person 16th EPH Conference will be held in Dublin, Ireland, from 8 – 11 November 2023. Theme of the EPH conference 2023 is: Our Food, Our Health, Our Earth: A Sustainable Future for Humanity.

The plenary programme is organised in collaboration with our partners and the tentative themes of the sessions are as follows. Names of speakers and moderators will be announced shortly on our website

Safeguarding health together: preparing the European Union’s health priorities, organised by European Commission and European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Saturday 11 November, 10:30 – 11:30. The European Commission has launched a public debate on the health priorities of the European Union for the next years. Where can the EU support Member States most effectively? The plenary is one of a series of public events designed to gather perspectives, generate ideas, and share experiences. We will present first insights coming from the debate while digging deep into key priority topics, including addressing the determinants of health, enhancing health security, supporting the digitalization and transformation of health systems, strengthening health systems, and addressing critical challenges such as climate change and population ageing. As the European elections and a new mandate draw closer, these debates seek to generate and explore new ideas on how the EU can continue to support European health systems and contribute towards safeguarding health moving forward.

Transitioning to more sustainable food systems that support health and wellbeing, organised by EuroHealthNet, Thursday 9 November, 14:00 – 15:00

Noncommunicable diseases: risk factors and commercial determinants, organised by EUPHA and European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Thursday 9 November, 17:50 – 18:50

Building the future One Health workforce, organised by ASPHER and EHMA, Friday 10 November, 10:30 – 11:30

On the path to an equitable and sustainable digital future for European health systems, organised by WHO Regional Office for Europe, Friday 10 November, 14:00 – 15:00

Read more about the plenary programme here.

Lunch symposiums

Lunch symposiums are held during the extended lunch hours of the conference. Delegates registered for the main conference may attend these sessions without prior registration. Get your lunch in the Exhibition/Catering Area, walk in and join the session.

Our Food, Our Health, Our Earth: EU funding opportunities, organised by European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), Thursday 9 November, 12:50 – 13:50

Health inequalities and multimorbidity as challenges to the sustainability of public health systems – examples from Finland and Scotland, organised by IMPRO, Friday 10 November, 12:50 – 13:50

More lunch symposiums to follow. Check our website for regular updates.

Conference venue

The 16^th EPH Conference will be held in The Convention Centre Dublin. The CCD is one of Europe’s most environmentally-friendly venues. In 2021, the CCD secured ISO 20121 accreditation, which is a recognized international accreditation that demonstrates commitment to running sustainable events. Read more.

4. EUPHA members update

New EUPHA member: Institute of Public Health of Sabac, Serbia

We warmly welcome a new institutional member, the Institute of Public Health of Sabac, Serbia to the EUPHA network. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration.

The Institute of Public Health of Sabac (IPHS) belongs to the public health institutions that provide health care of special interest to the population of the territory of the Macva district in Serbia.

5. European Journal of Public Health

Volume 33, Issue 4, August 2023

EDITORIALS

EU Global Health Strategy: what are the challenges? 
Nina Viberg and others

Can tobacco use end in Europe?
Pekka Puska

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
Educational inequalities in hypothermia mortality in the Baltic countries and Finland in 2000–15
Andrew Stickley and others
Urban–rural differences in health literacy in the metropolitan area of Berlin, Germany, and its surroundings Christine Haeger and others
Socioeconomic, lifestyle and biological determinants of cervical screening coverage: Lolland–Falster Health Study, Denmark
Milad K Tabatabai and others
Waves of inequality: income differences in intensive care due to Covid-19 in Sweden
Karl Gauffin and others

HEALTH SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Assessing European national health information systems in peer review format: lessons learnt
Petronille Bogaert and others
The Swedish intersectoral national public health policy: effects on child and adolescent health
Sven G Bremberg
Training needs assessment of European frontline health care workers on vaccinology and vaccine acceptance: a systematic review
Teresa Eleonora Lanza and others

WORK AND HEALTH
Concurrent trajectories of residential region in relation to a sustainable working life among Swedish twins
Annina Ropponen and others
Analgesics and ASH medications in workers increase the risk of disability pension and mortality: prospective cohort
Lars Louis Andersen and others
Work-limiting musculoskeletal pain and its association with loss of paid employment among senior workers: prospective cohort study with register follow-up
Sebastian Venge Skovlund and others
Return on investment of workplace-based prevention interventions: a systematic review
Frédérique Thonon and others

SUBSTANCE USE
Illicit purchasing and use of flavour accessories after the European Union menthol cigarette ban: findings from the 2020–21 ITC Netherlands Surveys 
Christina N Kyriakos and others
Trends in public attitudes to permitting cannabis for recreational use: analysis of Irish survey data since 2002 
Deirdre Mongan and others
Early substance use disorders and subsequent NEET-not in education, employment or training—a national cohort study 
Hélio Manhica and others

ALCOHOL USE
Do non-drinking youth drink less alcohol in young adulthood or do they catch up? Findings from a Swedish birth cohort
Peter Larm and others
Changes in the alcohol-specific disease burden during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: interrupted time series analyses
Jakob Manthey and others

NUTRITION
Adherence to dietary guidelines and dental caries among children: a longitudinal cohort study 
Agatha W van Meijeren-van Lunteren and others
The non-use of evidence in the adoption of a sugar-sweetened beverage tax in OECD countries 
Johanna Hornung and Fritz Sager
Impact of a sugar-sweetened beverage tax on sugar producers in Ukraine 
Kate L Mandeville and others

INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Cost of illness in patients with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome in Belgium
Ruben Willems and others
The vulnerability to COVID-19 of migrants in large urban areas: structural exacerbators and community-level mitigators
Lisa Hitch and others

EDITOR’S CHOICE
Conspiracy beliefs, COVID-19 vaccine uptake and adherence to public health interventions during the pandemic in Europe 
Luca Regazzi and others

MISCELLANEOUS
Environmental noise exposure and health outcomes: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis
Xia Chen and others
Need for improvement of cardiovascular health: a clustering method to identify cardiovascular health profiles. From epidemiological surveillance to identification of targeted audiences for prevention campaigns
Jessica Soyer and others
The role of music in promoting health and wellbeing: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Erica Viola and others

EUROPEAN PUBLIC HEALTH NEWS
European Public Health News
Marieke Verschuuren and others

OBITUARY
The European Public Health Community is mourning Richard Horst Noack
Thomas E Dorner and Dineke Zeegers Padget

6. Call for proposals, job opportunities

EU4Health call for tenders on the secondary use of health data for the European Health Data Space (EHDS)

HaDEA has published the call for tenders HADEA/2023/OP/0024 “Capacity building for secondary uses of health data for the European Health Data Space”. The capacity building activities target staff in health data access bodies (HDABs) and people with a platform to reach out to stakeholders involved in the secondary use of health data (EHDS2 ambassadors). The purpose of the call is to strengthen and standardise their skills through the transfer and creation of knowledge and the exchange of best practices on five digital business capabilities, all of which are crucial for the secondary use of health data. 

Associate Professor within Public Health – Health Promotion and Prevention

The Department of Public Health at the Faculty of Health at Aarhus University invites applications for a position as Associate Professor in the field of Public Health as per 1 February 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The position is a permanent, full-time position.
Read more here.

7. Interesting news

PHIRI 3 Years Anniversary Hybrid Conference on Friday 22 September

PHIRI, the Population Health Information Research Infrastructure, is implementing a research infrastructure to facilitate and generate the best available evidence for research on health and well-being of populations as impacted by COVID-19. PHIRI has been running for three years, bringing together experts in health information across Europe from 30 countries and 41 organisations. On the 22nd of September, PHIRI has its 3 years anniversary conference, gathering European key speakers, experts and stakeholders from research and policy making. Key topics will be discussed that are at the core of PHIRI’s activities:

1. Powerful Tools to Boost the Reuse of Health Data: FAIR catalogues and federated architecture
2. Strengthening the European Health Workforce
3. Building Stronger Health Systems
4. Building Collective Intelligence: Rapid Exchange Forum. 

This event is free and open to all that are interested the reuse of health data and health information for research and policy-making across Europe. Find all the information about the event and how to register here.

8. Upcoming courses and conferences

9. Interesting publications

Rapidly increasing likelihood of exceeding 50 °C in parts of the Mediterranean and the Middle East due to human influence

Nature climate and atmospheric science | May 2023
According a recent study, in the hottest of 12 selected locations in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, maximum daily temperatures above 50°C are becoming 10 to 1000 times more likely than in pre-industrial times, and by the end of the century such extremes could occur every year in the hotter locations due to human influence. Extremely high temperatures cause heat stress and may lead to excess mortality, reduced mental health and increased risks for several vulnerable groups. 

The Future of Population Health: Challenges & Opportunities

The Milbank Quarterly | April 2023, Special Centennial issue
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Milbank Quarterly. For the past century, the Quarterly has served the public health, medical, and health policy communities by publishing timely, rigours, evidence-based research and policy-focused commentaries. Now, on the occasion of the journal’s centennial, there is cause for both celebration and reflection.

Growing relevance of reports of adolescent cyberbullying victimization among adult outpatients

BMC Public Health | 8 August 2023
This retrospective survey concludes that raising attention to cyberbullying in clinical care and research seems to be justified and warranted.

Vaccination as a social practice: towards a definition of personal, community, population, and organizational vaccine literacy

BMC Public Health | 8 August 2023
This study describes the conceptual foundations, the competencies, and the civic orientation to be considered when developing measurement tools devoted to assessing vaccine literacy at the different levels and in different contexts.

10. European Institutes news

Save the date: State of the Union 13 Sept 2023

“This is Europe’s spirit. A Union that stands strong together. A Union that prevails together.”
Ursula von der Leyen, during her 2022 State of the Union speech.

In her 2023 State of the Union address, European Commission President von der Leyen will outline the main priorities and flagship initiatives for the year to come, building on the European Union’s successes and achievements of the past years. 
Tune in here on 13 September to follow the State of the Union address live.

Work-life balance during the COVID-19 pandemic: ECDC and Eurofound investigate the impact of selected non-pharmaceutical interventions in the EU

The new joint report by ECDC and Eurofound concludes that adult work-life balance was significantly affected by measures such as stay-at-home orders and recommendations, closures of day-care, primary and secondary schools and national teleworking recommendations implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Read the report here.

Prevention and control strategies in occupational safety and health (OSH)

Every year millions of people in the European Union are injured at work or have their health seriously harmed in the workplace. Occupational accidents and diseases cause great human suffering and loss, and the economic cost is also high. Prevention is the guiding principle for occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation in the EU. In order to avoid accidents and occupational diseases, the EU has stablished minimum requirements for OSH. The OSHwiki article offers an overview of these prevention and control strategies.

World Hepatitis Day 2023: need to scale up efforts to address hepatitis B and C

World Hepatitis Day is marked on 28 July each year to increase the awareness and understanding of viral hepatitis.
ECDC published a report at the end of 2022 on progress towards the elimination targets related to the prevention of hepatitis which highlighted that for some of the targets countries are far from reaching the 2020 WHO European Action Plan targets for hepatitis. Overall, the data up to 2022 indicate that there is still considerable work to be done to reach the goals of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030 and strengthening hepatitis prevention and control programmes.

World Mental Health Day conference: An EU comprehensive approach that prioritises sound mental health for all

To mark World Mental Health Day on 10 October 2023, the European Commission is holding a half-day, high-level conference in Brussels, hosted by Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. More details about this conference are available here.

Healthcare personnel statistics – physicians

This Eurostat article presents an overview of European Union statistics on physicians. It provides information on specialist healthcare personnel, as well as data on the number and ratio of graduates in this field (note that all physicians need to possess a degree in medicine).

11. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control news

Eurosurveillance – Volume 28, Issue 31, 03 August 2023

Rapid communication
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection on multiple fur farms in the South and Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, July 2023
Erika Lindh, Hanna Lounela, Niina Ikonen, Tuija Kantala, Carita Savolainen-Kopra, Ari Kauppinen and others
Emergence and potential transmission route of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus in domestic cats in Poland, June 2023
Lukasz Rabalski, Aleksandra Milewska, Anne Pohlmann, Karolina Gackowska, Tomasz Lepionka and others.

Surveillance
Invasive beta-haemolytic streptococcal infections, Finland, 2006 to 2020: increase in Lancefield group C/G infections
Dafni Katerina Paspaliari, Emmi Sarvikivi, Jukka Ollgren and Jaana Vuopio

Research
Outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus in cats, Poland, June to July 2023
Katarzyna Domańska-Blicharz, Edyta Świętoń, Agnieszka Świątalska, Isabella Monne, Alice Fusaro and others
Metagenomic sequencing for investigation of a national keratoconjunctivitis outbreak, Israel, 2022
Yair Motro, Denise Wajnsztajn, Ayelet Michael-Gayego, Shubham Mathur, Roberto BM Marano and others

Eurosurveillance – Volume 28, Issue 32, 10 August 2023

Rapid communication
Relative effectiveness of bivalent Original/Omicron BA.4-5 mRNA vaccine in preventing severe COVID-19 in persons 60 years and above during SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB.1.5 and other XBB sublineages circulation, Italy, April to June 2023
Massimo Fabiani, Alberto Mateo-Urdiales, Chiara Sacco, Maria Cristina Rota, Emmanouil Alexandros Fotakis  and others

Research
Seroprevalence for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and tick-borne encephalitis virus antibodies and associated risk factors among forestry workers in northern France, 2019 to 2020
Alexandra Septfons, Emma Rigaud, Laetitia Bénézet, Aurelie Velay, Laurence Zilliox and others

Perspective
Revisiting the personal protective equipment components of transmission-based precautions for the prevention of COVID-19 and other respiratory virus infections in healthcare
Diamantis Plachouras, Oliver Kacelnik, Jesús Rodríguez-Baño, Gabriel Birgand, Michael A Borg and others

Letter
Letter to the editor: Antimicrobial resistance data and treatment guidelines – challenges in the context of urine samples and mecillinam testing
Muna Abu Sin, Esther Wohlfarth, Anja Klingeberg, Tim Eckmanns, Michael Kresken, Evelyn Kramme and Guido Werner

Eurosurveillance – Volume 28, Issue 33, 17 August 2023

Surveillance
Epidemiology, surveillance and diagnosis of Usutu virus infection in the EU/EEA, 2012 to 2021
Giorgia Angeloni, Michela Bertola, Elena Lazzaro, Matteo Morini, Giulia Masi and others
A comparison of two registry-based systems for the surveillance of persons hospitalised with COVID-19 in Norway, February 2020 to May 2022Robert Whittaker
Salla Toikkanen, Katharine Dean, Trude Marie Lyngstad, Eirik Alnes Buanes, Hilde Kløvstad, Trine Hessevik Paulsen and Elina Seppälä

Eurosurveillance – Volume 28, Issue 34, 24 August 2023

Rapid communication
Cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in North Macedonia, July to August 2023
Dejan Jakimovski, Krsto Grozdanovski, Goran Rangelov, Verica Pavleva, Pavle Banović, Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz and Katerina Spasovska

Research
Seroprevalence, seroconversion and seroreversion of Borrelia burgdorferi-specific IgG antibodies in two population-based studies in children and adolescents, Germany, 2003 to 2006 and 2014 to 2017
Stefanie Böhm, Tom Woudenberg, Klaus Stark, Merle M Böhmer, Katharina Katz, Ronny Kuhnert, Martin Schlaud, Hendrik Wilking and Volker Fingerle

Perspective
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and reporting practices of public hospital microbiology laboratories in Greece, 2022: A national observational survey and call for action
Sofia Karagiannidou, Ioannis Kopsidas, Michalis Polemis, Kyriaki Tryfinopoulou and Theoklis Zaoutis

Letter
Letter to the editor: Bias in the vaccine effectiveness estimates of one-dose post-exposure prophylaxis against mpox
Catharina E van Ewijk and Susan JM Hahné
Authors’ response: Bias in the vaccine effectiveness estimates of one-dose post-exposure prophylaxis against mpox
Laura Montero Morales, José Francisco Barbas del Buey, Marcos Alonso García, Jesús Iñigo Martínez, Noelia Cenamor Largo, Susana Jiménez Bueno and Araceli Arce Arnáez

12. WHO news

WHO ‘MPOWER’ measures help reduce demand for tobacco

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and its guidelines provide the foundation for countries to implement and manage tobacco control. To help make this a reality, WHO introduced the MPOWER measures. These measures are intended to assist in the country-level implementation of effective interventions to reduce the demand for tobacco, contained in the WHO FCTC.

New “how to” guide for applying behavioural and cultural insights

WHO/Europe has launched a new guide, providing support to countries on how to apply behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) for health. It presents a simple step-wise approach, complemented by a rich collection of detailed considerations, tools and exercises. The guide is the first of its kind, specifically developed for use by public health professionals developing policies, services and communications informed by BCI across health topics. 

Helping young people direct their own health and well-being through research at WHO Collaborating Centre in Ireland

Young people’s resilience and leadership were on show on International Youth Day (12 August 2023) as WHO/Europe dedicated all its social media accounts for the day to youth-led public health campaigns. In Europe, young people are increasingly demanding to have their voices heard and join in determining their health and well-being futures. The WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion Research at the University of Galway in Ireland uses a variety of creative means to give a voice to future generations. These include involving young people in early discussions about health strategy development and adopting youth advisory panels. The Centre offers young people opportunities to take an active role in research, to share expectations, define goals and identify appropriate health-care frameworks to meet their personal needs. 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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