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EUPHA-LAW Newsletter April 2026
In this issue
EUPHA-LAW Newsletters go out at the beginning of the month. You can add your own items to the May Newsletter until 23 April. Please include your contact details in case verification is needed.
Section News
EUPHA-LAW Section Meeting
Monday, 20 April, 10:00-11:00 CEST
Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/dqy-kiyu-mfj
Draft agenda
EUPHA-LAW Newsletter is looking for a pro bono editor! Contact David Patterson
Events
Webinar: Scotland’s Harm Reduction Initiatives
Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA)
Scotland faces Europe’s most severe drug-related death crisis. Addressing this demands bold, multi-sectorial action. This webinar will explore the country’s innovative public health / harm reduction responses. The expert panel will unpack Police Scotland’s national Naloxone rollout and introduce “The Thistle,” Scotland’s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility, as well as discuss the progress, barriers, and enablers of change.
Friday, 17 April 2026, 10am UK Time / Online via Zoom (free) / Register Here
Webinar: Scotland’s Harm Reduction Initiatives
Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA)
Scotland faces Europe’s most severe drug-related death crisis. Addressing this demands bold, multi-sectorial action. This webinar will explore the country’s innovative public health / harm reduction responses. The expert panel will unpack Police Scotland’s national Naloxone rollout and introduce “The Thistle,” Scotland’s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility, as well as discuss the progress, barriers, and enablers of change.
Friday, 17 April 2026, 10am UK Time // Online via Zoom (free) // Register Here
6th Visegrad Four (V4) Public Health Conference
“Healthy Horizons: Exploring Innovations in Public Health” 9–11 September 2026 | High Tatras, Slovakia
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Conference Sub-themes:
Share your work, present your research (oral/poster), and connect with the public health community across the V4 region and beyond! Top 5 reasons to submit:
Submit your abstract by April 15, 2026: https://conference2026.mc3.sk/
The conference is organised by key stakeholders in Slovakia, including Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Faculty of Medicine; the Slovak Public Health Association; the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic; and the Slovak Medical Association. Collaborating partners include EUPHA and national public health associations from Czechia, Hungary, and Poland. We look forward to seeing a strong representation from the EUPHA network and to your valuable contributions in shaping public health knowledge and practice across Europe.
Iveta Nagyova – Chair, V4 PHC International Scientific Committee
European Public Health Week (EUPHW), 4-8 May
The calendar of events and how to register your event is now online. Contact Chiara Cadeddu or Andreea Badache if you would like to organise a EUPHA-LAW event during EUPHW (Zoom link, tips etc).
8th International Conference on Law Enforcement & Public Health
Vulnerability, policing and public health
The Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA) and the ESRC Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre will jointly host the 8th International Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference, LEPH2026 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK from 6-9 September 2026.
Following highly successful conferences in North America, Africa and Europe, the 2026 global event in Leeds presents a unique opportunity to spotlight global research and world-leading practice across law enforcement and public health. The conference will be open to law enforcement and public health agencies, national and local governments, relevant research bodies, academic institutes, policy makers as well as the commercial sector and other partner organisations. Bringing these diverse communities and perspectives together, the conference presents an ideal space for sharing and learning about new approaches, instigating and developing real change in practice, based on the best available evidence internationally.
Sexual and Gender Minority Health in Senegal
In 2023 the EUPHA and the World Federation of Public Health Associations denounced the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act on both public health and human rights grounds. The 16th European Public Health Conference in Dublin debated the issues in a workshop co-hosted by EUPHA Sexual and Gender Minority Health (SGMH) Section and EUPHA-LAW. Video testimony was provided by a Ugandan man who fled to Kenya to escape related persecution, including regarding the impact of the legislation and related climate of hate on his health and on the health of his family, friends and community. Homophobia is a public health issue.
In February 2026 the Senegalese Council of Ministers approved draft legislation to increase criminal sanctions for same-sex relations. The international legal position and negative public health impacts are clear. EUPHA-SGMH and EUPHA-LAW may submit a workshop proposal for the 19th European Public Health Conference and would like to include speaker(s) who can give first-hand testimony about the situation of the LGBT+ community in Senegal and other African countries as a public health issue. If not attending, a video recording is also possible. Contact David Patterson if you are available to speak on this issue or would like to lead in other ways.
Courses
Coming up! The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) will deliver an online course on climate change, law, ethics and public health in late 2026, with funding from ECHO/EEA. Registration will open in June – details to follow.
Publications
Road policing for road safety: Technical manual for building enforcement capacity
Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA)
Jonathan Passmore, co-convenor of GLEPHA’s upcoming Special Interest Group on Policing for Road Safety, has co-authored a vital new publication: Road policing for road safety: technical manual for building global enforcement capacity. This manual provides evidence-based guidance to strengthen road policing and enforcement (RPE) as a core safety pillar. It is designed for the wide range of stakeholders involved in RPE, including police and gendarmerie, the judiciary, policy makers, road safety professionals, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector. Read the technical manual here
The GLEPHA Special Interest Group (SIG) on Policing for Road Safety provides an interdisciplinary forum for academics, practitioners, and policy professionals to advance understanding of road policing and its role in reducing harm on our roads. Bringing together expertise from law enforcement, public health, criminology, psychology, sociology, and related fields, the group promotes the exchange of research, policy insight, and operational practice at local, national, and international levels.
Climate Corner
For an example of a powerful speaker from a public health perspective, watch the statement of Prof. Hugh Mongomery to the National Emergency Briefing (UK) in November 2025. Here is a link to his short presentation on climate change and health. Montgomery is a co-chair of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC). See also Hugh Montgomery, ‘Climate Change Threatens Survival – Will Warnings from Economists and Intelligence Services At Last Move Us to Act?’ (2026) 392 BMJ s427 http://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s427
This is the clear message the general public need to hear from the public health community. First, however, we need to hear it ourselves: ‘Can we survive climate change?’ – plenary session at the 19th European Public Health Conference.’
You Told Us to Talk About the Weather
In the past 6 hours, 94% of Brits have spoken about the weather. In the past 5 years, 7000 Brits have been arrested for speaking out about the climate crisis. Now we’re asking: how can we change small-talk into a conversation for meaningful change? You Told Us to Talk About the Weather is an urgent new series exploring why it’s so hard to speak about the climate.
Integrity and Inspiration: Claire Armitstead, ‘Shattered windows, broken rules … and victory! The medics who protested against the climate emergency’ The Nerve, 27 February 2026
Readers’ Comments
A new section – add your thoughts and comments to the May Newsletter.
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