The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on May 12, 2006
The European Journal of Public Health 2006 16(3):336-338; doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl081
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European Public Health Association |
President's column: How can we reduce the knowledge gap between public health research and policy/practice?
R. Horst NoackEUPHA President
Public health has been defined as an integrated challenge to improve the health of a population. Successful policies towards this end call for effective interaction within the triangle of public health research, policy, and practice (triangulation) at all levels of society and across all sectors and disciplines involved.
As previous EUPHA conferences have shown European public health research has improved continuously in scope, quality, and quantity. But there exists a significant gap between research on the one side and policy and practice on the other.1 The three fields tend to be rather disconnected from each other. By tradition public health research is focusing on research questions formulated within the research community and not on the actual questions within policy and practice. According to EUPHA's 10 Statements on the Future of Public Health in Europe2 research should focus on the needs of policy and practice, and researchers should learn how to interact with politicians and practitioners. Fostering triangulation raises two challenging questions: How can we orient research towards the needs of public health policy and practice? How can important research knowledge be communicated to and implemented within the communities of public health policy and practice?
Today, most of public health research addresses the development and treatment of disease (pathogenesis and reduction of disease risks). Knowledge coming out of disease research is important for strengthening the public health function of the medical care system. But it tells us little about the development of population health and ageing. There is much consensus that policy makers and practitioners do need a far better knowledge base related to the development and the determinants of positive health (salutogenesis and health resources) and the effectiveness and efficiency of health policies as well as health promotion, disease prevention, and disease care.
Research findings in public health are published primarily for the research community. However, quite often they do not reach policy makers and practitioners. To successfully communicate important research knowledge to these communities it needs to be translated into recommendations for actual policy choices or alternative practical strategies. At the moment, the capacities for translating research findings into policy-related or practical knowledge are lacking almost entirely. The European public health community must face the challenge of building sufficient capacities and developing an appropriate culture not only for research addressing important policy and practice needs but also for translating relevant research findings into useful recommendations for the solution of policy and practical problems.3
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1 EUPHA: 10 Statements on the Future of Public Health in Europe, European Public Health Association, 2005.
2 EUPHA: 10 Statements on the Future of Public Health in Europe, European Public Health Association, 2005.
3 Noack RH. Building the modern public health: perspectives, theory and practice, In: Tellnes G, editor, Urbanisation and Health Oslo: Oslo Academic Press, 2005: 123–39.
News from EUPHA Office
Dineke Zeegers PagetEUPHA manager
We are pleased to inform you that we are busy processing all the submitted abstracts and workshops for the 2006 conference in Montreux. With 602 abstracts and 48 workshops, it is safe to say that the tremendous interest and enthusiasm to participate in EUPHA conferences, as shown by public health experts during the 2005 conference in Graz, also continues this year in Montreux.
We are also pleased to inform you that the number of EUPHA members—member associations as well as institutional members—is still increasing. The EUPHA network now includes 40 countries and we have sent out an open invitation for the remaining 12 countries to join EUPHA. As not all these countries have a public health association, we have tried to reach public health experts via the ministries of health or contacts provided by the Open Society Institute, our partner in our continuous project to encourage the exchange of information with Central and Eastern European experts.
EUPHA is also an active partner in the SPHERE project, which is directed by Prof Mark McCarthy of the UK Faculty of Public Health and UCL in London. The project—Strengthening Public Health Research in Europe—will present its preliminary results in Montreux; first to the active partners in a pre-conference full-day meeting, second to the conference participants in the format of a workshop.
With the deadline of the EU-call for proposals approaching at the time of writing this column, we are pleased to see that EUPHA has been contacted by several project initiators to be either an associate or collaborative partner in the project. All initiators see the EUPHA network as an excellent tool to disseminate project results and identify possible partners.
In April, the EUPHA Council of Past Presidents met for the second time in Utrecht, The Netherlands, to discuss the future structure of EUPHA and its activities. The April session was as successful as the first meeting in November 2005 in Graz. In the near future, the plans and suggestions by the Council of Past Presidents will be further elaborated and discussed in the EUPHA Executive Council. The knowledge and input of EUPHA's past presidents is very valuable and much appreciated.
The monthly electronic newsletter has been further developed in appearance and distribution scope. We are pleased to inform you that we have received many positive reactions to the newsletter. The effectiveness of the newsletter has been proven by the numerous reactions received by the section on child and adolescent health, which informed the readers on the CAPH mailing list. The newsletter can now also be found under ‘news’ on the EUPHA web page. We would like to invite all EUPHA members who have interesting news in the public health area—job opportunities, conferences, projects—to contact the EUPHA office so that it can be placed in the newsletter and reach a large audience.
14th EUPHA Conference on public health: ‘Politics, Policies and/or the Public's Health’, 16–18 November 2006, Montreux, Switzerland
Markus KaufmannLocal Organising Committee 2006
In about 6 months, European public health professionals will get together in Switzerland during the 14th EUPHA annual conference. The main theme of the conference is ‘Politics, Policies and/or the Public's Health’. A second announcement is now available on the EUPHA website.
On the Wednesday preceding the conference, we have planned a number of pre-conference activities including:
- A visit to the WHO Headquarters in Geneva.
- A pre-conference on ‘eGovernance and Public Health’
- A pre-conference on ‘Migrant Health’
- A training seminar on health services research
- A training seminar on ‘writing a scientific article’
- A workshop (full day) of the EUPHA section on social security and health
- A workshop of the EUPHA section on child and adolescent health
- A seminar on public health publishing in Europe
- A MSD/EUPHA seminar
More information on the pre-conference activities and the detailed scientific programme are available on the EUPHA website as of July 2006.
The online-registration for the EUPHA conference is now open. The registration system allows you to book all pre-conference events with a possibility to change your registration details anytime by using your personal password. Together with your registration you can book directly your hotel room in Montreux. There are 3, 4, and 5 stars hotels available. We recommend that you register and book your hotel room as soon as possible to make sure that you get a hotel close to the conferencevenue.
For your flight check the website of the Geneva airport www.gva.ch. Among other airlines Easyjet (www.easyjet.com) and Flybaboo (www.flybaboo.com) offer flights from more than 25 destinations (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bristol, Budapest, Dortmund, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Liverpool, London, Madrid, Newcastle, Nice, Paris, Prague, Rome, and others) at low fares starting at EUR 100 round-trip. There are excellent train connections from Milano, Paris and Frankfurt to Montreux (www.sbb.ch/en).
For further information see www.eupha.org.
Please tell your colleagues and your friends about the EUPHA conference.
WHO/EURO COLUMN: STEPPING UP THE EFFORT TO REDUCE VIOLENCE AND UNINTENTIONAL INJURIES IN EUROPE
Francesca Racioppi, Dinesh Sethi and Inge BaumgartenWHO Regional Office for Europe
Injuries, irrespective of cause or intent, are the third leading cause of death in the WHO European Region, and in 2002 caused nearly 800 000 deaths (8.3% of all deaths).1,2 For every injury death there are an estimated 30 admissions and 300 emergency department attendances and many more who either seek help from general practitioners (GPs) or self treat.3 People living in low-to-medium-income countries of the Region are 3.6 times more likely to die from injury than those living in high-income countries.2 Within countries, it is the economically and socially marginalized who are more susceptible to injuries and their consequences.2
Yet, the potential for prevention is huge: WHO estimates that, if all 52 countries in the Region were to have the same injury mortality rate as the country with the lowest rate, then two-thirds, or half a million, deaths from injuries could be averted.2
Over the past few years, a number of steps have been taken to prioritize injuries as an important public health problem. The launch of the World report on violence and health,4 the focus of World Health Day 2004 on road safety and the publication of the World report on road traffic injury prevention5 and its European companion6 have been landmarks in mobilizing actors from different sectors all over the world. Further, the adoption of resolutions by the World Health Assembly,7–9 the WHO Regional Committee for Europe,10 and the United Nations11 have provided a coherent policy framework for evidence-based action. These have raised international consensus and commitment, and provide a policy platform to promote national policy action using a public health approach.
To facilitate this, a major effort is needed to strengthen the institutional capacity of Member States to respond to injuries, especially in low-to-middle-income countries.12 The network of European national focal persons for violence and injury prevention can play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between science and policy by promoting best practice. Establishment of a section on injury and violence prevention within the European Public Health Association also has potential to facilitate better coordination within the public health community of scientists and practitioners.
Reducing the burden of injuries and their harm to the economic and social development of Europe will require sustained effort and commitment. Enhancing the capacity of European stakeholders is an important first building block in this process, to which the public health community can make an important contribution.
Information on WHO's work to prevent injuries in Europe is available from the WHO Regional Office for Europe web site (www.euro.who.int/violenceinjury).
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TopReferencesReferences |
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1 GBD 2002 estimates [web site]. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2002. Available at: http://www3.who.int/whosis/menu.cfm?path=whosis,burden,burden_estimates,burden_estimates_2002N.
2 Sethi D, Racioppi F, Baumgarten I, Vida P. Injuries and violence in Europe. Why they matter and what can be done. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe (in press).
3 Holder Y, Peden M, Krug E, et al. Injury surveillance guidelines Geneva: World Health Organization, 2001.
4 Krug E, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, et al., editors. World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2002.
5 Peden M, Scurfield R, Sleet D et al. World report on road traffic injury prevention Geneva: World Health Organization, 2004.
6 Racioppi F, Eriksson L, Tingvall C, Villaveces A. Preventing road traffic injury: a public health perspective for Europe. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2004.
7 World Health Assembly resolution WHA49.25 on Prevention of violence: a public health priority. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1996. Available at: http://policy.who.int/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?advquery=WHA49.25&infobase=wha&record={11A0B}&softpage=Browse_Frame_Pg42&x=29&y=10&zz=.
8 World Health Assembly resolution WHA56.24 on Implementing the recommendations of the World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2003. Available at: http://policy.who.int/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?advquery=WHA56.24&infobase=wha&record={11A09}&softpage=Browse_Frame_Pg42&x=32&y=15&zz=.
9 World Health Assembly resolution WHA57 10 on Road safety and health. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2004. Available at: http://policy.who.int/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?advquery=WHA57.10&infobase=wha&record={11BDA}&softpage=Browse_Frame_Pg42&zz=.
10 WHO Regional Committee for Europe resolution EUR/RC55/R9 on Prevention of injuries in the WHO European Region. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2005. Available at: http://www.euro.who.int/eprise/main/WHO/AboutWHO/Governance/resolutions/2005/20050922_1.
11 United Nations General Assembly resolution 58/289. Improving global road safety. New York: United Nations, 2004. Available at: http://www.unece.org/trans/roadsafe/docs/A-RES-58-289e.pdf.
12 TEACH_VIP. Users Manual. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2005. Available at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2005/9241593547.pdf.
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