background

Building health
promoting systems
fit for the future

EuroHealthNet Annual Report June 2020-June 2021

background

Building health promoting systems fit for the future.

EuroHealthNet Annual Report June 2020-June 2021

6. Communication

EuroHealthNet’s communications team amplifies the messages and expertise of the members of the partnership.

It disseminates reliable, evidence-based and timely information to public health and social equity communities and beyond, and makes connections between people, resources and initiatives to facilitate advocacy for a healthier and fairer Europe.

We tell the stories of the people, projects and ideas at the vanguard of health promotion, disease prevention, and the fight Our work focused on:

  • Making connections and facilitating exchanges
  • Disseminating reliable, evidence-based and timely information
  • Sharing stories from Europe’s public health community
  • Delivering reliable information to the public health community
Comms meeting Jan

Making connections and facilitating exchanges

EuroHealthNet’s communication network

EuroHealthNet’s communication network brings together nearly 50 communications professionals across Europe from EuroHealthNet member organisations. The group is a space for exchange of expertise and resources, help members raise interests and concerns at an international level, and to increase awareness of initiatives at European, national, and regional levels.

During the pandemic, the group continued to work remotely. It specifically focused on how to communicate information about COVID-19 to people that experience inequalities, and about Covid-19 vaccination.

Calls and Opportunities Alerts

EuroHealthNet members receive exclusive updates about opportunities for funding, training and capacity building to staff in partner agencies through our Calls and Opportunities Alerts. This year 9 alerts were sent.

Disseminating reliable, evidence-based and timely information

Health Inequalities Portal

As European experts in health equity, part of our mission is to provide reliable and accessible information on the status of, and pathways to progress on health inequalities. In February 2021 we launched a new online portal for information and resources, health-inequalities.eu. It is a platform for international exchange including information, policies, research, and initiatives on health inequalities on EU, national, regional and local levels.

The Portal’s resource database is continuously updated with new publications, initiatives, practices, and policies at European levels and on the ground. Today it includes more than 750 resources. Users are also able to submit their own work in order to contribute to growing and developing a common knowledge base.

The Health Inequalities Portal also includes the e-Guide for Financing Health Promoting Servicese-Guide for Financing Health Promoting Services, where users can learn about different ways to design and implement health promoting services and find a range of case studies to inspire them.

An interactive map allows users to compare the level of health inequalities within and between different countries in Europe, and find out more about national organisations working on health equity.

Since its launch in February the portal has had over 5000 visitors, more than 100 subscribers, and numerous contributions to the database.

Health Highlights

Each month, EuroHealthNet gathers the most important news related to health promotion, determinants of health, and health inequalities to share with the European public health community. The newsletter, which goes out to 8,000 mailboxes, covers main public health developments, news from the EuroHealthNet partnership, developments at the EU institutions, as well as international developments and the newest publications. Over the last year, 10 newsletters have been sent.

Access to Public Health Information, a Key for Public Accountability and Health Equity in times of COVID-19: The Med-Dialogue Project

In December 2020, EuroHealthNet joined its first project under the Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality Technical Assistance Programme. The project, ‘Access to Public Health Information, a Key for Public Accountability and Health Equity in times of COVID-19’ targets journalists, public health and medical students, national public health authorities, and civil society actors working in six countries in the Middle East and North Africa: Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.

The project aims to enhance the space for critical expression, access to information, and monitoring accountability of national public health measures.

The project consists of a series of webinars and roundtables on relevant topics, such as dis- and mis-information, effective public communication, balancing health security and civil liberties, and the role of investigative journalists in reporting on public health measures. These webinars will conclude with a policy briefing and advocacy campaign containing recommendations collected from each ‘digital dialogue.’

EuroHealthNet supports the project coordinator, the Maharat Foundation in Lebanon, by bringing an EU dimension to the project, identifying relevant EU participants for the webinar series and supporting communication and policy activities with relevant expertise. This ensures that it is a true cross-Mediterranean dialogue in which partners from various European and Arab countries can exchange ideas and recommendations.

Telling the stories of public health

Magazine

Across Europe, researchers, policymakers, planners, and practitioners are working and innovating to meet rising health challenges and gear our health and social systems towards the future. EuroHealthNet Magazine facilitates an exchange of their stories, allowing experts to share their experiences in addressing common challenges and learn from each other. The magazine highlights stories from the EuroHealthNet partnership and beyond, and has two themed editions per year. This year’s editions revolved around what is being done to ‘build back better’ after the pandemic and on health and the changing world of work.

Read the latest edition of our magazine

Video

As Europe looks towards the transition from a covid-19 pandemic to an endemic, questions about the future of health and social systems become more pressing. How can we move from health cure systems to health care systems? What does sustainability mean? What place is there for health promotion and prevention? What will future systems look like? To bring the concept to life, and to better illustrate the partnership’s vision of the future, we developed a video on Health and Care Systems Built for the Future, which will soon be available in more languages.

Working with the media

EuroHealthNet helps shape the narrative around health, equity, and the determinants of health. It helps to unify and strengthen members’ voices on the international stage.

  • Read More

    EuroHealthNet directs its expertise and advocates for greater health equity by issuing statements, joint letters and articles describing the partnership’s position on legislative developments and other relevant matters. Over the last year, 17 such statements were issued. Topics covered included Topics covered included child rights and investing in children, building a European Health Union, recovery and resilience plans to support sustainable and fair health and social care systems, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, and mental health.

    When important developments for health equity occur, news releases are used to inform the public. Over the last year, 12 releases were sent out to raise awareness on, among other things, the links between social protection and health, the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the effects of the New EU budgets on health spending and outcomes.

    As the EuroHealthNet partnership is widely-known for its expertise on health equity, its statements and news releases are regularly picked up by the media and other organisations. For instance this year our work appeared in the press and other publications at least 45 times. EuroHealthNet was frequently mentioned in Dods, Politico, and on the Health Policy Platform. EuroHealthNet’s COVID-19 outputs, the financing e-Guide and the Health Inequalities Portal were mentioned most often. EuroHealthNet was referenced in at least five scientific articles in 2020, all related to inequalities and the sustainability of our health systems in times of COVID-19.

    Our statements this year, in addition to those listed throughout this report Included:

    A letter to the EPSCO Council: The need for more effective investments and reforms towards sustainable health and care systems. Read in full.

    A Joint Letter with the Alliance for Investing in Children on the prioritisation of child poverty reduction in the European Parliament’s Resolution on the Recovery Package and the 2021-2027 EU MFF. Read in full.

    Five recommendations for European eHealth priorities, as a member of the eHealth Stakeholder Group. Read in full.

    Statements to the WHO Europe Regional Committee meeting on

    Provisional agenda item 4 The European Programme of Work, 2020–2025 – “United Action for Better Health in Europe”

    Provisional agenda Item 2b: The state of health in the WHO European Region, including lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

    A Joint Statement on the use of the next European and structural investment funds for strategic investments in health and social services with EUREGHA (European Regional and Local Health Authorities). Read in full.

    An Open Letter on National Recovery and Resilience Plans to support sustainable and fair health and social care systems, addressed to the heads of the Permanent Representations of Member States to the European Union

    A joint letter to the Council of the EPSCO Ministers, welcoming the declaration on “Overcoming poverty and social exclusion – mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on families – working together to develop prospects for strong children” Read in full here.

    An open letter to EU states on National Recovery Plans (RRPs) to support sustainable and fair health and care systems. Read in full.

    A statement with the EU Alliance for Investing in Children on the ESF+ political agreement. Read in full.

    A statement with the EU Alliance for Investing in Children on the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Read in full.

    An Open letter to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU, all Ministers and Commissioners in the informal EPSCO meetings 15 – 16 March 2021. Read in full.

    A statement on health equity for world health day: building a fairer, healthier world. Read in full.

    A Joint Statement with the EU Alliance for Investing in Children statement on the European Commission’s proposal for a Council Recommendation establishing the Child Guarantee. Read in full.

    Statement to the Oslo Medicines Initiative: ‘better access to effective, novel, high-priced medicines – a new vision for collaboration between the public and private sectors’ Read in full

    A joint letter from health organisations on extending the mandate of the ECDC towards an integrated public health approach. Read in full.

    A Joint Position Paper led by the Smoke Free Partnership on the cross-border acquisition of excise goods, including alcohol and tobacco. Read in full.

    A Statement ahead of the EU’s social summit, the Conference on the Future of Europe and the Global Health summit on the need to use health equity as a compass for long-term recovery from the pandemic. Read in full.

Read all the statements

Communication in figures

198954
Views of EuroHealthNet
19858
Contacts in our database
6118
Twitter followers
2111
Facebook fans
2489
LinkedIn followers

Building health promoting systems fit for the future

Who we are
Chapter 1
Fit for the Future
Chapter 2
Policy
Chapter 3
Practice
Chapter 4
Research
Chapter 5
How we work
Chapter 7
Be part of our network