History

The European Public Health Association, or EUPHA in short, is an umbrella organisation for public health associations and institutes in Europe. EUPHA was founded in 1992 by 15 members (12 countries). EUPHA now has 72 members from 42 countries:

• 42 national associations of public health
• 15 institutional members
• 8 European NGOs
• 7 individual members.

EUPHA is an international, multidisciplinary, scientific organisation, bringing together around 12’000 public health experts for professional exchange and collaboration throughout Europe. We encourage a multidisciplinary approach to public health.

Our vision
Our vision is of improved health and reduced health inequalities for all Europeans. We seek to support our members to increase the impact of public health in Europe, adding value to the efforts of regions and states, national and international organisations, and individual public health experts.

Our mission
Our mission is to build capacity and knowledge in the field of public health, and to support practice and policy decisions through scientific evidence and producing and sharing knowledge with our members and partners in Europe.

Working in partnership
Sustainable advancements in public health can only be achieved through collaboration. EUPHA is dedicated to working in partnership with European and international intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations as well as national institutes and organisations endorsing EUPHA's values and commitment to improve public health in Europe.  

Strategic objectives

1. Capacity building

Capacity building includes the enhancement of skills and knowledge through training, technical advice and the development of awareness, skills, knowledge, motivation, commitment and confidence.
EUPHA’s focus on capacity building includes the following:

• Human resource development, the process of equipping public health experts with the understanding, skills and access to (international and comparative) information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform more effectively.
• Organisational development, the elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures, not only within organisations but also the management of relationships between the different organisations and sectors (public, private and community).
• Institutional and legal framework development, making legal and regulatory changes to enable organisations, institutions and agencies at all levels and in all sectors to enhance their capacities.

As an organisation, EUPHA will:

• Provide overviews of national and international research, policy, practice and training and education.
• Actively support the exchange of information and the sharing of knowledge.
• Assist our members in their efforts to further public health.
• Assist international bodies, such as the European Union and WHO, in their efforts to further public health in Europe and globally.

2. Knowledge building

Knowledge building includes the synthesis, creation, dissemination and use of scientific knowledge and experience.
EUPHA’s focus on knowledge building includes the following:

• Develop international knowledge building by using all tools available to EUPHA.
• Promote multidisciplinary work and sharing of knowledge.
• Support the development of strong public health research at national and European level.
• Be proactive in the sharing of knowledge by taking initiatives, developing new tools and collaborating with partners.
• Focus on transfer of research into policy and practice.

As an organisation, EUPHA will:

• Continue to use its existing tools (European Journal of Public Health, annual scientific conferences, database, sections, newsletter, website) to create and share knowledge as widely as possible.
• Proactively develop new tools to increase knowledge building.
• Interact with major partners in public health in Europe to further knowledge building.

 

3.  Policy building

 

Policy building is based on the information gathered at EUPHA office, allowing us to provide evidence-based information and support to European public health policy.

 

  Four Pillars
  All EUPHA activities will be based on four pillars:

• Research
• Policy
• Practice
• Training and education

3. Pillar I: Research

EUPHA’s objectives in research are:

• To develop the understanding of national and European-level public health research in terms of outputs, priorities, structures and funding.
• To provide a forum for promoting and developing research, and for networking researchers
• To encourage the use of research results and implications for public health policy and practice

As an organisation, EUPHA will:

• Develop descriptions of national research activities on the EUPHA web-site, providing a matrix by country, topic and research-base.
• Work with national associations to list European public health research institutions
• Encourage EUPHA Sections, national members and major partners to develop European public health research agendas, support literature reviews, and state of how national health systems would benefit from this research.
• Promote research as a knowledge base for public health practice and policy
• Support the engagement of other civil society organisations in the public health research agenda by continued membership of European Health Policy Forum and Global Forum for Health Research.

4. Pillar II: Policy

EUPHA’s objectives in policy are:

• To promote evidence-based public health policy and healthy public policy.
• To contribute to policy through networking and alliance building.

As an organisation, EUPHA will:

• Maintain dialogue with international health organisations by proactively participating in consultations and providing feedback and reactions to policy proposals.
• Work with EUPHA member national associations to encourage common developments in public health policy at a European level.
• Draw out policy implications and recommendations from research that is gathered or carried out through EUPHA activities.
• Seek to provide an independent voice for evidence-based public health policy at European level.

 
5. Pillar III: Practice

EUPHA’s objectives in practice are:      

• To develop a collaborative network of public health specialists and practitioners for the sharing and exchange of best practice.
• To encourage applied health service research, service evaluation and audit to inform policy and practice and to use practice to inform research and training/education priorities.
• To use practice developments to formulate the needs for research.

As an organisation, EUPHA will:

• Further develop a dedicated focus on practice in all its activities.
• Integrate a practice perspective into all EUPHA activities.
• Actively recruit – among its member associations – a cohort of members from public health practice.
• Develop a practice perspective within the currently active membership.

6. Pillar IV: Training and education

EUPHA’s objectives in training and education are:

• To become a focal point for training and education in public health in Europe.
• To bridge curriculum development between science and practice.
• To identify the needs of public health experts for training and education.

As an organisation, EUPHA will:

• Collect and disseminate information on training and education activities in Public Health.
• Actively participate in the organisation of summer schools, ad-hoc courses and other training and education activities.
• Advise on programmes and curricula for training and education in public health professionals across Europe.

7. EUPHA is the bridge between public health research, policy, practice and training and education

With this new strategy, EUPHA will build bridges between public health research, policy, practice and training and education. We will increase the impact of public health in Europe, adding value to the efforts of regions and states, national and international organisations and individual public health experts.

 

Our activities
EJPH - Annual scientific conferences - Sections - Projects - Statements and reports

 

EJPH
EUPHA publishes a scientific journal six times a year entitled European Journal of Public Health. The EJPH does not only publish refereed original articles, but also provides a forum for discussion and debate of current international public health issues with a focus on the European region.

Annual scientific conferences
EUPHA convenes a scientific conference every year, bringing together public health experts throughout Europe and beyond. The conferences offer a platform for the exchange of information and an opportunity for international research groups to meet and present their work.

Sections
EUPHA encourages the creation of sections for specific public health themes, which are international and open to all regular EUPHA members. The goal is to bring together researchers and public health professionals working in the same field for the exchange of information and the setting up of joint policies, reports and research.
Current sections:
Child and adolescent public health
Chronic diseases
Environment related disease
Ethics in public health
Food and nutrition
Health Impact Assessment
Health promotion
Health services research
Infectious diseases control
Injury prevention and safety promotion
Migrant and ethnic minority health
Public health economics
Public health epidemiology
Public health genomics
Public Health Monitoring and Reporting
Public health practice and policy
Public mental health
Social security and health
Urban public health
Utilisation of medicines

Projects
EUPHA is also an active partner in projects, including

 

STEPS – Strengthening Engagement in Public Health Research
STEPS engages civil society organisations, researchers and ministries in mapping public health research systems in Europe and encourages debate on public health research between civil society organisations and governmental structures in twelve new EU-Member States. STEPS builds on previous work done under SPHERE (Strengthening Public Health Research in Europe). STEPS is funded by DG Research.
University College London is the project co-ordinator, with EUPHA and Skalbes, Latvia, as primary partners. Civil society organisations and national public health associations from 12 new EU member states are partners in STEPS. All partners attended the first workshop in Lodz last year and many also attended the conference to enhance their engagement with public health research across Europe.
Activities in 2010 included the organisation of national workshops in which stakeholders in public health research met to define roles and tasks of those involved and to discuss possible research agendas. Workshops were held in all partner countries in March or April.
In May, a second project workshop was held in Malta to discuss the outcomes of the national workshops and prepare the country reports. Other project activities included: development of a web page and database for the country information on public health research. The third project workshop will be held to in Amsterdam to draw conclusions from the country reports and discuss follow-up dissemination activities.

 

PHIRE – Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe
PHIRE maps the uptake of knowledge from public health actions funded under the first EU Public Health Programme across Europe. Secondly, the project maps the structure and uptake of research and innovation in Europe. Working through EUPHA Sections, PHIRE will identify six ‘tracer’ projects from the first PHP and reports on uptake at country level. Working through EUPHA member associations, PHIRE will produce national reports on the uptake of research and innovation in European countries. A database will include the national results of the tracers and information on national research programmes. PHIRE will create Platforms, which will bring together ministries of Health, national science councils, civil society organisations and European research foundations to discuss European and national public health research. These Platforms will be held in association with the annual Conference, to start with the Copenhagen 2011 Conference.
Early in 2010, we have revised the technical and financial description of the project at the request of the Commission. The Commission has taken a keen interest in the project and we will present PHIRE at one of the EU-sponsored workshops in Amsterdam. The starting date was 1 September and the project duration is 30 months. EUPHA is project coordinator with main partners: Karolinska Institut (Sweden), NIVEL (Netherlands), French School of Public Health, UK Faculty of Public Health and member associations from Slovakia and Malta. PHIRE is funded by DG SANCO.

 

DePH - Developing Public Health Capacity in the EU
The one-year project is implemented by a consortium led by the Department of International Health (Maastricht University) and partnered by EuroHealthNet, ASPHER, and EUPHA. The aim is to review the current public health capacity in Europe and to make recommendations for EU action and support. EUPHA’s contribution to the project includes: identification of key documents and the contacting of country experts. Furthermore, EUPHA will assist in the dissemination of the dataset through existing databases and contribute to the SWOT analysis of public health capacity in the EU.

 

AIR Project - Addressing Health Inequalities Interventions in Regions (DG SANCO funded)
The main objective is to identify best practices in reducing inequalities in primary care settings in European regions. The project consists of three parts. The first part is a literature review of evidence-based effective interventions. The second part is a survey to collect and identify actions which contribute to reducing health inequalities in European regions and for specific target populations. The third part is to analyse innovative interventions and identify key factors of success and effectiveness. EUPHA is one of the fifteen collaborative partners and has a role in the dissemination of project results through the annual conference, monthly newsletter and the European Journal. We conducted a short review of Dutch best practices in reducing health inequalities which was shared with the research partner for the Low Countries. Other partners include the Institute for research and information in health economics (IRDES), France, the School of Public Health Andalusia, Spain. Overall project coordination is by the Regional Council of Aquitaine, France.

 

OSI  2010 - Open Society Institute 2010
The grant from the Open Society Institute (OSI) allows 40 public health experts and delegates from national public health associations from Central and Eastern European countries to actively participate in all aspects of the conference. Again we are thankful for the local support we receive for this project, by allowing a lower registration fees for the experts included in this project. We also are pleased with the support of the European Commission who funded the travel and accommodation of 20 more public health experts.

 

PHAMEU - Primary Health Care Activity Monitor for Europe
PHAMEU develops instruments to gather information on primary care systems in 31 European countries and to monitor current developments. The project is coordinated by NIVEL in the Netherlands. EUPHA supports the project through dissemination of results and expert advice.

Statements and reports
Actions on European health issues - EUPHA and its members aim to be proactive in public health in Europe by giving out statements, reports and by actively participating in the planning of the future of public health in Europe. Click here for an overview of our statements/reports.