Editorial: Promoting the health and well-being of children, all children…
Dear members of the EUPHA Health Promotion Section,
With many countries celebrating Children’s Day on 1 June, this provides an opportunity for the health promotion community to reflect on its contribution to children’s health and well-being. While surely most of us agree that children are the most cherished members of society, there is ample evidence that suggests we are failing to provide them with the protection and daily living conditions they need to flourish. This means that our children are more likely to struggle to fulfil their aspirations as future adults and to care for their families or contribute to their communities.
These are troubling times for the Europe’s children. Anti-nanny state and anti-science ideologies fuelled, in part, by resentment arising from growing income inequality, are threatening the welfare state regimens that have proven effective in protecting us from the high health inequalities seen in other parts of the world. Right-wing populist political parties are gaining support by blaming the general fall in people’s purchasing power on the supposed abuse of welfare systems by vulnerable groups. The unemployed, migrants, and ethnic minorities are therefore targeted by harsh regulatory provisions that seem to serve no purpose other than to punish people for being poor or different. As a result, little attention is paid to the consequences for their children’s future. In Europe, there is also a general discourse about teenagers that portrays them as a threat rather than as our future or a group that needs our support. Societies are increasingly debating whether the justice system should impose the same sentences on minors as on adults. Needless saying that teenagers have no say in these decisions.
These developments should prompt us to consider how health promotion work could improve children’s health and wellbeing. We suggest a few ways to achieve this.
Firstly, we must recognize the young generation as participants in our health-promoting endeavours. There is much to be done to improve our ability to integrate their views on the features that neighbourhoods, schools, and other settings should have to respond to their needs, and to engage them in our community health initiatives. At present, we barely acknowledge their presence. When their presence is acknowledged, it can come as a surprise, as one steering committee member discovered when he was astonished to hear the head of the cabin crew greet the passengers on a flight with a cheerful ‘Good morning, ladies, gentlemen and children‘. This may seem insignificant, but there were children and teenagers on board that aircraft, and they were listening.
Secondly, we need to invest more in building communities’ capacity to improve daily living conditions for all. People’s engagement and intersectoral mobilisation are essential for finding solutions to complex problems that can make a real difference for families, especially those who are struggling. As the (WHO 2021) emphasises, well-being encompasses health and there is no high level of health without a high level of well-being. These efforts can be assessed against a number of indicators. Indicators of well-being are all-encompassing and can evolve relatively quickly, providing a stronger case for the legitimacy of investments than many other health indicators, for which a longer timeframe is required to observe changes.
Lastly, we must denounce the hypocrisy of those who profess their love for their own children while condemning the children of others to bleak futures, or even death, as is currently the case in Gaza.
Health promotion is well positioned to bring about significant improvements in children’s health and well-being. The EUPHA Health Promotion Section is committed to supporting you in strengthening your capacity to address the social determinants of health and equity, and to bringing practitioners and professionals from all over Europe closer together. The activities listed in this newsletter are evidence of our commitment.
Thank you for reading us,
Eric Breton, Section Presiden –
Camila Picchio, Vice President
And the members of the Steering Committee: Chrysanthi Tatsi, Dulce Maria do Nascimento do Ó, Elisabeth Nöhammer, John Dierx, Karina Leksy, Michelle Baybutt, Monica O’Mullane, Roosa-Maria Savela, Sherihane Bensemmane, Suzannah D’Hooghe and, Ursula Griebler.
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EPH Conference Helsinki 2025
3.004 single abstracts and 290 workshop proposals were submitted for the next in Helsinki. This represents the second-highest numbers ever submitted, just behind Lisbon 2024. The European public health community is going stronger by the day. Results of the review of the abstracts by the scientific committee will be released shortly.
We hope to see you in Helsinki!
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Pre-conference on healthy setting
We are very pleased to announce that during the EPH Conference, we will host a pre-conference “Healthy settings, healthy lives: advancing the Settings Approach in health promotion”. It will be held on November 11 from 09:00 – 17:00 Helsinki time. Speakers will cover the history of the approach, the system thinking that underpins it and present different initiatives demonstrating the benefits of a healthy setting approach. Register fast as the number of participants is limited. More information can be found .
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Rural Health Promotion Webinar on 18 September 10:00 – 11:15 CET
The Rural Health Promotion Working Group would like to invite you to an open meeting to discuss future strategic directions. This meeting is also part of the preparations for the EPH conference in Helsinki in November. The meeting will begin with brief presentations on potential next steps, followed by discussions involving everyone present. A more detailed agenda will be posted on the EUPHA in early September.
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Message from EurohealthNet
EurohealthNet, on behalf of (Federal Institute for Public Health, Germany) is conducting a short, anonymous survey on ‘Supersettings in Health Promotion’ as part of the . The survey aims to explore how well the concept of ‘supersetting infrastructures’ is known and applied in practice, how it relates to similar approaches in health promotion, and to gather real-world examples and insights on what makes these infrastructures effective. It shall take no longer than 10 minutes. At the end of the survey, you will have the chance to share your own resources. You are free to abandon your participation at any time.
Your insights will help map real-world examples and will feed into a report on supersetting approaches that will be published before the end of 2025. If you’re helping connect efforts across settings to improve health and equity, we want to hear from you! Even if you’ve never used the term supersetting explicitly, your experience in health promotion is highly valuable.
Please by the 13 June. For questions or more information, contact , Project Coordinator at EuroHealthNet.
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Other news that may interest our members
Registration is now open for 16th conference of the European network for the promotion of health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA Europe) (early-bird fee until 17 June). The conference will be hosted in Kaunas, Lithuania. Find more info .
Archives of Public Health is recruiting Associate Editors:
Call for Papers: Prevention and health promotion in and with communities: Best practices, challenges, and the road ahead :
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And lastly!
Members of the steering committee would like to thank Ekaterina Volevach for her commitment and contributions to the Health Promotion Section. Ekaterina is now called to other challenges and so can no longer sit in the committee. We wish her the best for this new chapter of her professional life.
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