Lunch symposium: The European Health Report: the importance of data for guiding public health action
Wednesday 12 November, 12:55 – 13:55 (Helsinki time), Room Veranda 3
Organised by:
WHO Regional Office for Europe, EUPHA
Background
The European Health Report (EHR) – the triennial flagship publication of the WHO Regional Office for Europe reveals that despite substantial achievements in addressing disease burdens and increasing life expectancy, most Member States are not on track to meet Regional and global targets for reducing infectious disease and noncommunicable diseases. The report also underscores persistent gaps in emergency preparedness and response capacities, even after the profound impact and lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing geopolitical crises in the Region. Special attention is needed to protect the health of children, older people and people on low incomes. It also reveals that health systems have not bounced back since the COVID-19 pandemic. They continue to face a myriad challenges, including health workforce shortages, demographic shifts and climate change, while having to adapt to rapid shifts in the technological landscape.
While previous editions of the report focused primarily on regional trends, the latest EHR2024 places greater emphasis on country-level data. In this way, the report providers a richer understanding of how individual Member States are progressing toward global and regional health priorities and can support policy discussions for defining national health priorities, WHO’s collaboration with Member States and the efforts of other international organizations and partners.
Although the EHR2024 is a valuable resource for evidence-informed policymaking, it also exposes crucial data gaps. Areas for which timely data are lacking include child development, violence against children, intersectoral action for health, mental health, non-fatal injuries, the health effects of climate change, health emergency preparedness and response, long-term care, and primary health care. Even for areas with regular data collections, significant gaps remain.
For example, for mortality data, only 24 of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region (45%) could report data from 2022 or more recently. For nine (17%) Member States, the latest reported cause of death data predated the COVID-19 pandemic. The development of the EHR also exposed that disaggregated data, which are necessary for the analysis of health inequities, continues to be available only to a limited extent. This hampers policy-makers ability to design and implement targeted interventions for the most vulnerable populations.
This lunch session aims to discuss with the public health community the vital role they can play in improving the availability and quality of data through advocacy and research. More specifically, the session will introduce the main findings from the EHR2024 and showcase the value of data- and indicator-based reporting for policymaking; and it will explore the data gaps exposed by the EHR2024 and their underlying causes.
Programme
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Opening |
Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, Director Country Health Policies and Systems, WHO Regional Office for Europe |
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Keynote – Main findings of the EHR2024 |
Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe |
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Presentation – Data challenges in the WHO European Region |
David Novillo Ortiz, Regional adviser Data, Evidence and Digital Health, WHO Regional Office for Europe |
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Panel discussion |
Moderator: Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, WHO Regional Office for Europe Panelists: Charlotte Marchandise, EUPHA Executive Director– the NGO perspective |
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Closure |
Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, WHO Regional Office for Europe |
Registration not required
Registration is not required. Delegates who are registered for the main EPH Conference can attend free of charge. Get your lunch in the Exhibiton / Catering Area, walk in and join the session.