Newsletter – December 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

Reflecting on a transformative year for EUPHA

As 2024 draws to a close, it’s inspiring to reflect on what we have achieved together as a community dedicated to advancing public health in Europe. This year has been a testament to the strength and reach of our network, with EUPHA connecting 35,000 public health professionals through 85 national member associations. Collaboration and innovation remain at the heart of everything we do.

Strengthening the public health community

The 2024 European Public Health Conference welcomed over 3,200 participants, providing a vibrant platform to exchange ideas, present research, and forge new partnerships. Meanwhile, European Public Health Week reached new heights with 154 events held across 39 countries in 20 languages, demonstrating the true reach of our work.

Our EUPHAnxt initiative engaged more than 4,000 early-career professionals, fostering the next generation of public health leaders. In parallel, our 29 thematic Sections have continued to drive impactful contributions through cutting-edge research, thought-provoking workshops, and influential statements and newsletters.

Looking ahead to 2025

The momentum we’ve built in 2024 is setting the stage for an exciting year ahead. In 2025, we will launch a new 5-year strategy designed to amplify our impact and refine our focus in a rapidly evolving public health landscape. With fresh perspectives from our growing team, we are committed to tackle emerging challenges with renewed energy.

And there’s more—in the spirit of creativity and connection, we’re exploring a potential new project that could celebrate our shared achievements in an engaging and unexpected way. Could this be a groundbreaking musical shining a light on public health heroes? Stay tuned to find out!

Thank you for your support

EUPHA’s successes are driven by your dedication, expertise, and passion. As we close this chapter, let’s carry forward the collaborative spirit that defines our community into an even brighter future.

Here’s to a transformative 2025!

2. EUPHA update

Congratulations to Dr. Marija Jakubauskienė on Her New Position

We are thrilled to extend our warmest congratulations to Dr. Marija Jakubauskien on her appointment as Lithuania’s new Minister of Health. Dr. Jakubauskien, who is currently serving as the Section President for Public Mental Health at EUPHA, has a long-standing commitment to advancing public health and mental well-being. Her leadership and expertise in the field of mental health will undoubtedly bring valuable insights to her new role.

As Section President, Dr. Jakubauskien has been instrumental in promoting mental health as a priority within European public health, advocating for inclusive policies and ensuring that mental health issues are given the attention they deserve. We are confident that her experience in both national and international public health will enable her to continue driving impactful change in her new capacity.

We look forward to the continued collaboration with Dr. Jakubauskien in her new role and wish her every success in this exciting new chapter of her career.

EUPHA Stands with Mayotte: Call for Health Reserve Volunteers

Cyclone Chido has devastated Mayotte, a French overseas department located in the Indian Ocean, severely damaging healthcare infrastructure and displacing communities. Mamoudzou Hospital, partially destroyed, is overwhelmed by patients. Santé publique France urgently seeks health professionals and logisticians to join the Health Reserve and support local teams.

Needed Profiles:
Doctors, midwives, specialized nurses (surgical, emergency, dialysis), logisticians, and psychologists.

Learn more: Health Reserve Info (in French).

EUPHA encourages qualified professionals to support this critical mission in Mayotte.

3. European Public Health Conference

Next year’s European Public Health Conference 2025, Helsinki, Finland

The 18^th EPH Conference will be held in Helsinki, Finland, from 11–14 November 2025. Pre-conferences will be held on Tuesday 11 November with the main conference running from 12–14 November. Theme of the EPH conference 2025 is: Investing for sustainable health and well-being. Read more about the conference theme here.

Abstract Submission Helsinki 2025

Abstract submission for the 18th EPH Conference is open from 1 February until 1 May 2025. Abstracts are invited for workshops, oral, pitch and poster presentations. Do not miss the opportunity to share your work with colleagues at the largest public health event in Europe. In collaboration with EUPHAnxt we provide an abstract tutoring programme offering an opportunity for young and/or less experienced abstract submitters to receive feedback from experienced reviewers. Check our website for any updates.

Registration Opens 1 April 2025

Registration for the 18^th EPH Conference in Helsinki opens 1 April 2025 with benefits for EUPHA members. EUPHA members receive a €100 reduction on the registration fees. The condition is that they must have registered with the national public health association in their country that is affiliated with EUPHA before 1 April.

Conference Venue

The 18^th EPH Conference will be held at the newly renovated Finlandia Hall. The Finlandia Hall was created by the world renowned architect Alvar Aalto as an multi-purpose event centre and meeting place in the centre of Helsinki, next to Töölönlahti Bay. More here.

17^th EPH Conference Lisbon 2024

The new Eurohealth issue on Sailing the waves of European public health: exploring a sea of innovation, which provides reflections from the 17th European Public Health Conference is now available on the European Observatory website and EPH Conference website. 

4. European Journal of Public Health

Editorials
Child poverty—a political choice 
Anna Pearce and Alastair H Leyland
Obsessed with fertility 
Vasiliy Vlassov

Social Determinants
Editor’s Choice
Do poor psychosocial resources mediate health inequalities in type 2 diabetes mellitus? Findings from the Maastricht study 
Bengisu Sezer and others
The association of economic difficulties with social and health care costs of children—target trial emulation using complete birth cohort data in Finland 
Aapo Hiilamo and others
Is the period of austerity in the UK associated with increased rates of adverse birth outcomes? 
Rachael Watson and others
Employment in low-skilled jobs as trigger and consequence of poor health—a longitudinal perspective from Germany 
Arthur Kaboth and others

Sociodemographic Conditions
Trajectories of satisfaction with work–family reconciliation among midlife employees: the role of family-related factors and quality of life 
Subas Neupane and others
Sociodemographic differences in the response to changes in COVID-19 testing guidelines 
Shambhavi Sharma and others
Loneliness in the Republic of Srpska: advocating for social prescribing 
Sonja Stančić and others
Changes in perceived neighborhood social cohesion and self-assessed health: 17-year follow-up of the Dutch GLOBE study 
Vernon Cail and others

Health Policy
Constructing a One Health governance architecture: a systematic review and analysis of governance mechanisms for One Health 
Darlington David Faijue and others
Burden of disease studies supporting policymaking in the European Union: a systematic review 
José Chen-Xu and others
Are EU member states ready for the European Health Data Space? Lessons learnt on the secondary use of health data from the TEHDAS Joint Action 
Irini A Kessissoglou and others
Reach and public health implications of proposed new food marketing regulation in Germany: an updated analysis 
Anna Leibinger and others

Health Services Research
Disease management program in patients with type 2 diabetes 
Mette Bender and others
An integrated pathway for influenza vaccination across primary and secondary care using a clinical decision support system: model definition and predictive impact analysis 
Maria Lucia Specchia and others
Examining health literacy in the Danish general population: a cross-sectional study on the associations between individual factors and healthcare-seeking behaviour 
Lisa Maria Sele Sætre and others

Work and Health
Educational differences in alcohol-related morbidity and the role of working conditions: a Swedish register-based cohort study 
Melody Almroth and others
Association of unemployment and increased depressive symptoms with all-cause mortality: follow-up study of a cardiovascular prevention programme 
Päivi E Korhonen and others
Factors associated with intent to stay in the profession: an exploratory cluster analysis across healthcare professions in Switzerland 
Leonard Roth and others

Migration
To what extent did mortality from COVID-19 in England and Wales differ for migrants compared to non-migrants in 2020 and 2021? A descriptive, observational study 
Lucinda Hiam and others
Patients like any others? Providing coverage to undocumented migrants in France: effects on access to care and usual source of care 
Antoine Marsaudon and others
All-cause and cause-specific mortality among older migrant and non-migrant adults in Finland: a register study on all deaths, 2002–2020 
Laura Kemppainen and others
Flight-related determinants of healthcare services utilization of asylum seekers and refugees in Germany: a study based on the German Socio-Economic Panel 
Thomas Grochtdreis and others

Aging
Leisure-time activities and disability among Chinese community-dwelling oldest old: evidence from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study 
Wen-Fang Zhong and others
Association between frailty and subsequent disability trajectories among older adults: a growth curve longitudinal analysis from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004–19) 
Selam Woldemariam and others
Health perceptions of adverse weather in older adults in England: analysis of 2019/20 survey data 
Grace Anne Turner and others

Reproductive Health
HPV-associated cancers among people living with HIV: nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study 2004–21 in Estonia 
Anna Tisler and others
Caesarean section and operative vaginal delivery in Estonia and Finland from 1992 to 2016: registry-based study 
Kaire Sildver and others
Predicting population-level vulnerability among pregnant women using routinely collected data and the added relevance of self-reported data 
Joyce M Molenaar and others

Mortality Analyses
Impact of the use of small-area models on estimation of attributable mortality at a regional level 
Julia Rey-Brandariz and others
Potentially avoidable mortality among adults with intellectual disability 
Lau Caspar Thygesen and others

European Public Health News
Addressing public health in times of conflict 
Charlotte Marchandise and others

5. Call for proposals, job opportunities

Professor at the Department of Public Health Aarhus University, Denmark

The Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Aarhus University invites applications for one or more positions as professor in research fields of relevance for the Department of Public Health including research related to the four strategic research areas: Applied Public Health, Clinical Public Health, Disease Ethology and Research Methodology and Sport Science. The positions are permanent full-time. Employment is planned to start on 1 August 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.  
Check out the call here.

Survey Eurosurveillance

Eurosurveillance is a European open access scientific journal devoted to the epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and control of communicable diseases Eurosurveillance is evaluating its strategy and performance in the past 5 years, with the aim to remain relevant to the public health and infectious disease community in the future. The survey will last approximately 10-15 minutes and is entirely anonymous. The responses will only be used to inform the study. 
Please find the survey here.

Call for contributions to The Digital Public Health Conference

The Digital Public Health (DPH) Conference has placed a call for contributions to the main research tracks of DPH 2025. Submission deadline is 29 January 2025. Visit here for more information. 

6. Interesting news

Romania and Bulgaria are now officially part of the Schengen Area

Opening the December plenary session, President Metsola said she was pleased that Romania and Bulgaria will finally join the Schengen free movement zone on 1 January 2025. 
Read more here. 

Court denies TikTok’s request to halt enforcement of potential US ban until Supreme Court review

A federal appeals court on Friday left in place a mid-January deadline in a federal law requiring TikTok to be sold or face a ban in the United States, rejecting a request made by the company to halt enforcement until the Supreme Court reviews its challenge of the statute.
Read more here. 

Macron has a new prime minister but the same old problems

France has a new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, but that does not solve France’s internal political crisis.
Read more here. 

Croatia MPs debate no-confidence motion in government over graft case

Croatia’s 29 December 2024 presidential election will test the standing of the ruling center-right HDZ party, as its candidate faces opposition amidst economic challenges and corruption allegations. 

Read more here. 

Romania’s pro-Western parties agree to form a majority government after political turmoil

Romania: A statement from the new coalition said the parties would potentially support a “common pro-European candidate” in the new presidential elections. It is yet unclear whether Georgescu will be allowed to run in the new vote.
Read more here. 

German Chancellor Scholz loses no-confidence vote, paving way for election

Chancellor Olaf Scholz triggered this path to new elections on 23 February 2025 by firing his finance minister Christian Lindner last month, which led Lindner’s pro-business Free Democrats to quit the government, robbing it of a majority.
Read more here. 

7. Upcoming courses and conferences

8. Interesting publications

Behavioural Insights for public health in the EU – A case study in four Member States on embedding behavioural insights into public health policy-making

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries in the EU / European Economic Area have established applied behavioural and social science, or ‘Behavioural Insights’ (BI), units or networks to make recommendations to decision-makers on actionable policy and communications. On the basis of key-informant interviews in four EU Member States with different administrative systems – Spain, Italy.
Read the article in full here. 

Mapping and portfolio analysis of EU R&I on environmental determinants of childhood cancer

There are significant gaps in EU-funded research on childhood cancer and environmental determinants. Of 2,757 cancer-related projects, only 51 focus on childhood cancer, with minimal exploration of environmental links. Funding for these topics is limited and few projects address prevention or policy-oriented outcomes.
Read the full report here. 

Digitalisation of healthcare – EU support for member states effective overall, but difficulties in using EU funds

The COVID-19 pandemic made healthcare digitalisation a more important part of our lives. We examined whether the Commission’s actions to support member states in digitalising their healthcare systems were effective. We found that, given its mandate, the Commission supported member states effectively overall. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU policy framework was strengthened.
Read the full report here. 

One Health Governance in the European Union

One Health means recognition that human health, animal health and the health of our environment are inherently connected. They form a common system that demands to be treated as a whole. All too often, policy areas like agriculture, biodiversity and crisis management are treated in isolation, rather than in recognition of their place as part of a larger, interconnected ecosystem.
Read the full report here. 

EU4Health programme – How to apply for funding

Read an overview on how to apply here. 

9. European Institutions’ news

Commission

The new European Commission officially began its mandate on 1 December 2024. As a reminder, here is the new poster of the Commission. While the working program is not expected before mid-February, as it will only be discussed officially on 10 February 2025, health takes center stage early. On 21 January 2025, the Commission will discuss a European action plan on the cybersecurity of hospitals and healthcare providers—one of the priorities outlined in President von der Leyen’s political guidelines.More on cybersecurity in healthcare

This initiative highlights the overlapping competencies among key Commissioners. Henna Virkkunen (Executive Vice-President) oversees strategic direction on digital resilience, while Hadja Lahbib focuses on health security and policy implementation. Together, they aim to integrate high-level strategy with targeted action in areas like cybersecurity and digital healthcare transformation. However, this overlap—with input from Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi on related portfolios—reflects broader structural challenges in the Commission, potentially complicating coordination and lobbying efforts.

On 5 December 2024 the EU will launch the New Health Union Fellowship: DG SANTE’s new Fellowship fosters collaboration and training for public health experts to strengthen the European Health Union.
On 17 December 2024, Teresa Anjinho was elected as the new European Ombudsman, succeeding Emily O’Reilly, who served in the role for over 10 years.

European Semester

The European Semester report, released on 5 December 2024, calls for sustainable health systems, digital transformation, and improved preparedness for emergencies. The next steps focus on Member States implementing reforms to tackle workforce shortages and improve healthcare access, enhancing resilience across the EU.

European Parliament

The Public Health subcommittee has been upgraded to a standing committee, reflecting the increasing importance of health in EU policymaking. A full vote on mandates and membership will take place on 18 December 2024, with further announcements to follow.

Details on the new standing committees.

Council

Under Poland’s Presidency, security takes center stage, encompassing health security as a priority. Key focuses include the digital transformation of healthcare, addressing mental health challenges in children, and fortifying EU drug supply chains. In line with the broader emphasis on preparedness, several Member States are proactively equipping citizens for crisis scenarios. For instance, Sweden has released a war preparedness brochure titled In Case of Crisis or War.

10. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control news

Eurosurveillance – Volume 29, Issue 49, 05 December 2024

Rapid communication
Macrolide-resistant Bordetella pertussis strain identified during an ongoing epidemic, Finland, January to October 2024
Milja Miettinen, Alex-Mikael Barkoff, Aino Nyqvist, Carita Savolainen-Kopra, Jenni Antikainen, Jussi Mertsola, Lauri Ivaska  and Qiushui He

Outbreaks
Persistence of OXA-48-producing ST-22 Citrobacter freundii in patients and the hospital environment, Paris, France, 2016 to 2022
Sarah Jolivet, Jeanne Couturier, Killian Le Neindre, Muriel Ehmig, Laurent Dortet, Cécile Emeraud  and Frédéric Barbut

Systematic Review
Reasons for difficulties in isolating the causative organism during food-borne outbreak investigations using STEC as a model pathogen: a systematic review, 2000 to 2019
Christina Anthony, Karen Pearson, Rebecca Callaby, Lesley Allison, Claire Jenkins, Alison Smith-Palmer  and Marianne James

Perspective
Cross-sectoral genomic surveillance reveals a lack of insight in sources of human infections with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, the Netherlands, 2017 to 2023
Ingrid HM Friesema, Menno van der Voort, Ben Wit, Angela HAM van Hoek, Maaike JC van den Beld, Coen van der Weijden  and Eelco Franz

Letter
Vaccinating against the absent: Risks of the B/Yamagata strain in the live attenuated vaccine
Parvaiz A Koul

Author’s correction
Authors’ correction for Euro Surveill. 2024;29(48)

Miscellaneous
Job vacancy at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
Eurosurveillance editorial team

Eurosurveillance – Volume 29, Issue 50, 12 December 2024

Rapid communication
An outbreak of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 antigenic variants exhibiting cross-resistance to oseltamivir and peramivir in an elementary school in Japan, September 2024
Emi Takashita, Kohei Shimizu, Shuzo Usuku, Ryuichi Senda, Ichiro Okubo, Hiroko Morita, Shiho Nagata, Seiichiro Fujisaki, Hideka Miura, Noriko Kishida, Kazuya Nakamura, and others

Surveillance
Antigenic changes in influenza A(H3N2) driven by genetic evolution: Insights from virological surveillance, EU/EEA, week 40/2023 to week 9/2024
Eeva K Broberg, Maja Vukovikj, Olov Svartström, Iris Hasibra, Maximilian Riess, Angeliki Melidou  and Members of the ERLI-Net network

Nuvaxovid NVX-CoV2373 vaccine safety profile: real-world data evidence after 100,000 doses, Australia, 2022 to 2023
Hazel J Clothier, Claire Parker, John H Mallard, Paul Effler, Lauren Bloomfield, Dale Carcione  and Jim P Buttery

Research
Prioritisation of infectious diseases from a public health perspective: a multi-criteria decision analysis study, France, 2024
Dominique Ploin, Mathilde Alexandre, Bruno Ventelou, Didier Che, Bruno Coignard, Nathalie Boulanger, Christophe Burucoa, François Caron, Pierre Gallian, Yves Hansmann, Christian Lienhardt, Philippe Minodier, Henri Partouche, Matthieu Revest, Nadia Saidani, and others

Direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: an individual-level population-scale analysis using linked electronic health records, Wales, United Kingdom, 2016 to 2022
Rhiannon K Owen, James D van Oppen, Jane Lyons, Ashley Akbari, Gareth Davies, Fatemeh Torabi, Keith R Abrams  and Ronan A Lyons

11. WHO news

For the latest news from WHO Europe please visit their website. 

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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