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The European Public Health Association Newsletter – March 2026 |
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Newsletter – March 2026
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1. Editorial
European Public Health Week 2026: connecting science to action, from Brussels to your community
European Public Health Week (EUPHW) returns from 4 – 8 May 2026 and under the theme Investing for Sustainable Health and Well-being.
EUPHA’s mission is to bridge science and policy and to empower our members to do the same in their countries. EUPHW is where this mission comes to life. Each year, the European Public Health Conference produces a Statement that distils the most pressing public health priorities. But a statement only matters if it reaches decision-makers and communities on the ground. EUPHW is our mechanism to translate that statement into local action: workshops, campaigns, webinars, policy dialogues, and community events organized by members, partners, and public health professionals across the continent.
Submissions for EUPHW 2026 events are now open. We encourage National Public Health Associations, universities, local authorities, NGOs, and civil society organizations to register their activities and join the campaign. Last year, Ukraine organized the most events, a powerful demonstration of resilience and commitment to public health under the most difficult circumstances. The year before, Bulgaria took the lead. Who will step up this year?
Flagship events in Brussels and online will anchor the week. EUPHA is organizing high-level sessions with our partners: the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, and the European Commission, to ensure that the science reaching policymakers is grounded, timely, and actionable. Stay tuned for announcements on keynote speakers, thematic webinars, and the official EUPHW program.
This year’s EUPHW comes at a moment when public health needs allies at every level: international, European, national, and local. Disinformation, political fragmentation, and underinvestment in prevention threaten the foundations of health security. EUPHA is here as the hub connecting the dots: linking researchers to policymakers, national associations to European institutions, and communities to the evidence they need to advocate for better health.
We invite you to join us and publish your events: it can be on a campus, in a primary health care facility, in a city hall or out in the street. It can be high-level policy dialogue or grassroots community action. It can be sharing research or dancing. There’s no single way to put public health into practice and we look forward to seeing all the creative and innovative ways you will come up with.
Register your event. Amplify the message.
Dr. Tit Albreht, EUPHA President
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2. EUPHA news
WHO Regional Office for Europe & EUPHA: renewing our partnership for 2026–2027
EUPHA met with WHO/Europe to renew our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 2026–2027 and align on priorities for the coming years.
The renewed partnership focuses on seven strategic areas:
The renewed MoU will deepen collaboration across these areas, with a stronger focus on engaging more closely with countries and supporting implementation on the ground.
Welcoming new colleague, Katharina Yacoub
We are delighted to welcome Katharina Yacoub as our new Senior Communications Officer at EUPHA! Kathi has experience in public health communications and is motivated to create communications that spotlight public health and promote EUPHA’s impactful work in the sector. As Senior Communications Officer, Kathi will help shape how public health is communicated across Europe – across EUPHA and the EPH conference. She will support communications for major European public health initiatives and EU-funded projects and keep communications moving during a key transition period. We are excited to welcome her to the team and look forward to keep putting public health in the focus together.
Upcoming EUPHA Section webinars
Our Sections continue to bring together experts from across Europe and beyond to explore today’s most pressing public health challenges. Join us to stay informed, share knowledge, and connect with the latest research and policy developments.
13 April 2026, 10:00 – 11:15 CEST
Organisers: Rural Health working group and the Health Promotion Section
30 April 2026, 16:00 – 17:00 CEST
Organiser: Chronic Diseases Section
This webinar will explore a cross-sectional study which evaluated medical students’ knowledge, attitudes, and preventive behaviors regarding skin cancer in the context of climate change. Findings demonstrate gaps in climate-informed dermatology education and highlight the need for preventive curriculum integration. The study offers a template for expanding public health-oriented medical education in settings facing rising UV exposure and heat-related skin disease risk.
6th Visegrad Four (V4) Public Health Conference (V4 PHC 2026): Healthy Horizons: Exploring Innovations in Public Health
Organisers: Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Faculty of Medicine; the Slovak Public Health Association; the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic; the Slovak Medical Association and others.
Taking place 9–11 September 2026 in the High Tatras, Slovakia, this EUPHA mid-term conference will bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and students from across the V4 countries and beyond to present their work, engage in interdisciplinary dialogue, and foster collaborations addressing pressing public health challenges.
Submit your abstract by 15 April 2026 here!
Click here for the website.
EUPHA statement on new data showing the scale of the tobacco crisis in Europe
The European Public Health Association (EUPHA) expresses deep concern at the alarming new evidence from the World Health Organization (WHO) showing that Europe is failing to protect its young people from the growing threats of smoking, vaping, and the rapidly evolving nicotine market. Newly released WHO EURO factsheets on tobacco control paint a consistent and deeply troubling picture: Europe is on track to remain the worst-performing region in the world for tobacco use by 2030, with stagnant or worsening trends among adolescents and young women.
EUPHA statement welcoming the French non-paper on reinstating operating grants for health NGOs
The European Public Health Association (EUPHA) warmly welcomes the publication of the French non-paper, which expresses serious concern about the removal of operating grants for health civil society organisations in the 2025 EU4Health Work Programme and calls for their urgent reinstatement from 2026 onwards.
EUPHA strongly supports the French initiative, which underscores the essential contribution of health NGOs to European public health, health democracy, and the functioning of the European Health Union.
Operating grants have long served as a cornerstone of structured, stable, and meaningful civil society participation in EU health policymaking. They ensure that patients, users, professionals, and communities have a sustained voice in shaping policies that affect them. As the French non-paper rightly notes, operating grants build permanent capacities, expertise, representation, network coordination, and effective dissemination of EU health policies across Member States, which short-term, project-specific action grants cannot replace.
New EJPH special issues on health and care workforce, and co-benefits of health
The European Journal of Public Health has published two special issues addressing critical challenges for public health systems across Europe.
February 2026
Europe’s health and care workforce is under sustained pressure – and the challenges are structural, not temporary.
This special issue examines the current and future realities facing the health and care workforce across Europe and beyond. Bringing together seven empirical studies and an editorial, the collection moves beyond short-term workforce shortages to explore deeper drivers shaping sustainability, including migration and retention, working conditions and governance, professional identity and moral injury, organizational culture and collaboration, and evidence-informed workforce planning.
March 2026
This special issue explores the co-benefits approach: how policies designed to address climate change and environmental degradation can simultaneously improve population health. The collection brings together evidence on how integrated action across sectors can deliver wins for both planetary and human health, from sustainable transport and urban planning to food systems and energy transitions.
The issue reinforces EUPHA’s commitment to Health in All Policies and the One Health agenda, demonstrating that climate action and health promotion are not competing priorities but mutually reinforcing investments.
EUPHA participation at Healthy Food Healthy Planet Forum
At this year’s Forum of Healthy Food Healthy Planet, true collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and policy areas became a reality.
From governance and accountability to youth representation, education, innovation, and social equity, participants explored how food and agriculture systems must evolve to support both planetary and human health. The visuals produced during the Forum highlight the interconnected nature of these challenges perfectly – considering fair value chains, sustainable production and healthier food environments.
EUPHA’s work on corporate accountability in food systems for unhealthy and unsustainable products, contributes to this broader effort by examining which regulatory approaches can effectively align businesses with public health and sustainability objectives. Ensuring that food environments enable healthy choices is not only a matter of individual responsibility, but also of governance structures that shape what food is produced, marketed, and made accessible.
EUPHA at PROPHET final conference in Rome
From 25 to 27 March, EUPHA Executive Director Charlotte and Network Coordinator Monica joined the PROPHET final conference in Rome that consisted of two intensive days on the future of personalised prevention in Europe.
The discussions were genuinely substantive: how to translate the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda into policy and how to make the roadmap work across very different national contexts.
Personalised prevention has enormous potential. But it only delivers on equity if we hold the population-level lens alongside the individual one. Moreover, prevention strategies designed without the people they are meant to serve tend to underperform.
This conference was also a great opportunity to meet with EUPHA’s Italian member association Società Italiana di Igiene with whom we had a good conversation on how we can improve collaboration and ensure that EUPHA is truly there for them.
EUPHA Law and Public Health section representatives at annual EU Climate Pact event
While it is already known, the urgent need for a much stronger and more systematic integration of the health dimension within European Commission climate policies and initiatives became even more clear during this event. The links between climate and health are undeniable, yet even after years of advocacy they remain insufficiently embedded in EU‑level climate action. EUPHA supports these initiatives and calls for sustained actions on climate change.
EUPHA sections’ participation in such events enforces EUPHA’s role in bridging the gap between science and policy across all sectors and fostering Health in All Policies and innovation.
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3. European Public Health Week
One week. One shared focus. Numerous actions across Europe.
4-8 May 2026 | Investing for Sustainable Health and Well-being
European Public Health Week returns with five daily themes exploring the foundations of sustainable health systems and equitable societies:
Monday 5 May: Aligning all policies with public health
Health is shaped far beyond the health sector. This day focuses on embedding public health perspectives across all policy domains—from urban planning to fiscal policy—ensuring that every decision considers its impact on population health.
Tuesday 6 May: Prioritising equity through public health investments
Investments in health must reach those who need them most. This day examines how to direct resources toward reducing inequalities and ensuring that no community is left behind.
Wednesday 7 May: Mental health at the crossroads
Mental health stands at a critical juncture between recognition and action. This day brings together evidence and practice to address the growing mental health burden across Europe.
Thursday 8 May: Protecting public health and democracy
Public health depends on trust, transparency, and democratic governance. This day explores how to defend science and public health institutions against disinformation, polarisation, and political interference.
Friday 9 May: Strengthening the health workforce
Without a supported, skilled, and resilient workforce, health systems cannot deliver. This day focuses on training, retention, and working conditions for the professionals who keep public health running.
Get involved
Submissions for events are now open for EUPHW 2026. We invite National Public Health Associations, universities, local authorities, NGOs, and civil society organisations to organise activities and join the campaign.
EUPHW promotional toolkit
The promotional toolkit can be used to promote and share EUPHW and its events you’re your network, stakeholders, staff, colleagues and anyone interested in public health. It is a collection of materials and guidance designed to help you effectively promote your public health messages and spread the word about the events during European Public Health Week 2026 (EUPHW).
Find the EUPHW Promotional toolkit here.
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4. European Public Health Conference
EPH Conference registration opens 1 April
We’re excited to welcome you to the 19th European Public Health Conference in Bilbao, Spain, from 10 to 13 November 2026. With this year’s theme “Urban and global synergies: shaping the future of public health with climate resilience, equity and innovation” the conference will explore and debate the current research and policy challenges of population health with a focus on these interconnected forces.
Registration opens on 1 April! Early bird discounts apply, along with reduced rates for EUPHA members and colleagues from Spain. More details, including registration fees, are available on the EPH Conference website.
Reminder: the call for abstracts is still open until 1 May. Find out more here.
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5. Upcoming courses and conferences
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6. Interesting publications and job opportunities
Project Assistant for EU Project EARLY – Vacancy
The position is part-time (50%), fixed-term until 30 November 2027, with remuneration according to qualifications up to E11 TV-L (reference number: TT 52). Level of German proficiency required.
The role supports the implementation of a European research project addressing determinants of youth mental health and the development of evidence-based prevention approaches.
Further information is available here, via the QR code, or on the career portal of Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences.
Health security needs a European health and care workforce strategy, and it needs it now
Europe is currently facing novel security threats in many different areas, reinforcing the need for a well prepared and protected health and care workforce to ensure health system resilience and service provision for the population under conditions of a poly-crisis. However, the health and care workforce is weakened by persisting shortages, competency gaps and mismatches, and poor working and mental health conditions. Health and care workers are not prepared for yet another crisis and a systematic strategy is lacking. This policy commentary argues for health and care workforce preparedness and protection as a structural pillar and integral part of an emerging EU health and security landscape, calling for a coherent European Union strategy and highlighting capacities for implementation and co-benefits for democratic societies and economies.
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David Patterson and Dr. Chiara Cadeddu, President and Vice-President of the Law and Public Health section, recently took part in the annual EU Climate Pact event organized by DG CLIMA. They both participated as EU Climate Pact Ambassadors, which they were appointed as at the beginning of this year.
The Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences, is seeking a Project Assistant for the EU-funded EARLY project, with EUPHA participation, within its Knowledge and Technology Transfer (WTT) unit at the Emden campus.