29 January 2009 – In her capacity as President of EPHA, Joanne Vincenten examines what EPHA has achieved over the years and identifies some key priorities for the future.
Joanne Vincenten: Ever since its formation, the European Public Health Alliance has taken on the role of an advocate for the health and well-being of all European citizens.
This advocacy work is conducted over the very broad range of topics that public health comprises, with EPHA preparing monthly briefing documents as well as coordinating numerous consultations over the past fifteen years on topics as diverse as the health workforce, school fruits schemes, and transparency in the EU institutions.
Technology has also evolved in the past years and EPHA has seized the opportunity to make use of the electronic means to enhance communication internally with members and other advocate colleagues as well as externally with policy makers, related agencies, the media and public. Recently we saw great involvement and cooperation with the members on producing very successful amendments to Patients’ Rights Directive. EPHA has made its website so beneficial as a tool for communicating information on public heath policy that the site has an average of 50,000 hits per month and is a popular site not only for EPHA members but for staff from the European Commission as well.
As EPHA looks forward to another fifteen years advocating for the public health of all people living in Europe, we need to consider:
– advocating both in a reactive way to policy issues, but also proactively to ensure that EPHA meets its organisational goals and is able to predict future policy developments.
– increasing the promotion and profile of the advocacy work EPHA undertakes will help maximise the impact our message.
– increasing the diversity of our multi-sector partnerships and joint ventures to guarantee greater gains for health by working together.
EPHA is dedicated to ensuring that public health is a priority on the political agenda and we will continue to advocate for this in order to achieve better levels of public health and well-being for all Europeans.
