Meetings

Health in a changing world - Climate change and environmental emergency: from prevention to consequences

Record number of participants and immense success for The Annual Spring Meeting of EuroNet MRPH, which was held in Genoa from the 21 to the 23 June 2024.

More than 200 professionals of the world of Public Health came from all over Europe such as Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Norway, England, Croatia, France, Ireland and Turkey. This helped make this conference a global forum for discussion and exchange of ideas.

For the first time in Genoa, the event touched on crucial points in the current debate in the scientific world, hosting speakers and moderators of considerable cultural depth and experience.

The congress, titled "Health in a changing world - Climate change and environmental emergency: from prevention to consequences" addressed several issues with a One Health and Circular Health approach: climate change and the consequent modifications of the planet in which we live, the effects of pollution on ecosystems, the new frontiers of vaccinology and biotechnology, as well as the compelling need to effectively communicate the importance of global health care not only to policy makers and academia, but also and especially to the general public, in order to induce the empowerment necessary for change.

Plenary sessions, interactive workshops and panel discussions among experts enriched the event and were received with enthusiasm and interest by all participants.

A particularly significant aspect of this congress was the commitment to sustainable environment. The organization made sure that the event was completely eco-friendly, using recycled and recyclable materials. In addition, instead of distributing traditional gadgets, a project was initiated in collaboration with ZERO CO2, which led to the planting of trees in the Corniglia area of the Cinque Terre with the aim of cutting down carbon dioxide emissions.

This Initiative demonstrates the awareness and concrete actions in contributing to the mitigation of climate change.

Particular audience participation was registered in the interactive workshops, which put the spotlight on the health of the planet, mental health and eco-anxiety, climate change education, and the communication of health and science topics, and the European science contest, which awarded research and innovations from across Europe.

Among the prominent national and international speakers who spoke at the congress, it is only right to mention the presence of Professor Ilaria Capua, who gave a concluding speech on the topic of Circular Health that left the audience in the hall with many insights to ponder.

In conclusion, the EuroNet MRPH Annual Spring Meeting, organized by the School of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine in Genoa, played a key role in raising the alarm about climate change and in indicating the importance of immediate action to protect the health of people around the world.

With the input of internationally renowned experts, unforgettable events and strong environmental sustainability, this congress will remain in the memory of all participants as a pivotal moment in the struggle for a healthier and more sustainable future.

We listened to the exciting keynote by Juliette McHardy, Consultant on the Commercial and Economic Determinants of Health at the World Health Organization.
Juliette talked about the strategies and tactics used by the corporate world to affect public health decision making

We announced the newly elected Board and Leads of EuroNet for year 2024

We presented the Network activities and accomplishments in 2023

Summer meetings are always a special one: President’s word about the Valencia meeting

Summer meetings are always a special one. Two years ago, for the first time in EuroNet’s history, we decided to spend a few days in a Dutch farm. Last year, we managed to bring 30 Euroneters to a tiny village on the top of an Istrian hill. This year, it was the turn of Valencia.

We decided that, given the time and the venue, a relaxed format of meeting would be more appropriate. Yet, there are always three goals which must be achieved in a meeting: to improve EuroNet, to learn something and to have fun with other colleagues. Thanks to the work of the organising committee, all three were achieved. Presentations by Rocio Zurriaga, Robert Otok and Sara McQuinn taught us about the past of our network and how to look to the future by strengthening our partnerships with key European organisations such as ASPHER and EUPHAnxt. These were followed by our usual working group sessions. This year, we also introduced an innovative format of group discussions, whose outcomes you will be able to read in this report.

Nevertheless, this meeting will be always remembered as the meeting where Turkey joined our network. We are already the biggest network representing medical residents in Europe. However, expanding EuroNet is always an objective. By strengthening EuroNet we increase our capacities and become more influential. In this context, the admission of Turkey is a huge step forward. We are all really looking forward to meeting and learn from our Turkish colleagues.

But a EuroNet meeting would not be a EuroNet meeting without fun, and the Spanish committee (and Julio particularly) are experts on this. We enjoyed some fantastic days in which water buckets, paella and the beach were among the highlights.

Whether you are an established euroneter or someone hearing from our network for the first time, I hope you enjoy this report and, if you want to join us, do not hesitate to contact the board or your country representatives. I hope that you are able to join us on our next meeting, which will take place in Slovenia at the beginning of December. See you there!!

Alberto Mateo
2018 EuroNet President

Organising Committee

In 1936, during an excavation on a hill near Kujut Rabua, a Hamlet southeast of Bagdad, members of the Iraqi State’s Railway Department found a tomb covered with a slab of Stone. The archaeologic recovery that ensued resulted in a magnificent number of small, decorated objects dated as far back as 248 a.C. . Among these were several odd looking recipients, shaped like a vase and light yellow in color. In these recipients they found fixed copper cylinders with iron rods in them. These objects would later be identified as crude batteries used for electroplating small objects and nicknamed the “baghdad batteries”, predating modern electroplating technology by almost two millennia.

We took on the challenge of organising the 2018 summer meeting with mediterranean optimism. We would start with Croatia’s victory against England (no disrespect to our british colleagues, but Croatia is a charming underdog with a little to no imperialist background) and finish on Sunday night by lighting a cigar after tapas with the last meeting survivors à la The A Team’s John Hannibal Smith exclaiming “I love it when a plan comes together”. Fade to black.

Unfortunately the world is a wild place full of real problems. It is physically impossible to make an A+ paella for fifty. Despite the different issues that were faced, organising this event was a blast. Sharing your city and hosting for colleagues and friends is a great experience that we are grateful for and we recommend. It also, as is usual in EuroNet meetings, produced several unique moments, some of which we would like briefly mention: Turkey’s historic entry in EuroNet. Croatia making it to the finals. The experimental discussion groups as a way of exploring common interests and generating ideas. The weird bar. Several impressive memes were also produced during this meeting: Angelo’s very big data, Euronet pushing me to achieve my fullest profesional potential and Clement and Antoine’s rather odd bed meme.

Back to the Baghdad batteries. Lost knowledge is a real thing. As good as we are in keeping a record of things, humanity sometimes has the tendency of starting things from scratch rather than stand on the shoulders of giants. We saw a glimpse of this during Rocio Zurriaga’s intervention on the beginnings of EuroNet, particularly in regards to the structure of assemblies. Meetings have varied greatly in the last couple of years. This is understandable considering the association’s impressive expansion (There is word that despite history’s lessons we will take on Russia in winter). We would however like to echo the feeling of discontinuity that was expressed by some during the meeting. Creative licenses set aside, there is perhaps a need to produce a template of what a meeting should look like, what sections should constitute one and what are the objectives or the expected interactions at the assemblies. At this point, the size of the association certainly justifies a quality control approach.

Next meeting couldn’t be more of a contrast with the last: from the mediterranean Playa de la Malvarrosa to snow covered cottages in the slovenian alps. The idyllic setting along with the coinciding EPH in Ljubljana and the guaranteed hosting qualities of the Association of Public Health Residents of Slovenia truly makes this one a no brainer. We hope to see you all there.

In words of our fellow JF Monteagudo, “together we are stronger”; and as  Professor Miroslav from the Andrija Stampar school of Public Health said one night:

Health to All.

The 2018 Valencia Meeting Organising Committee

Points of view: Ireen and Desmond

This summer I finally had the opportunity to join my first EuroNet MRPH meeting. Due to a lot of enthusiastic stories of my colleague (Lilian van der Ven) about EuroNet-meetings my expectations were sky high. And I can tell you that Valencia did not disappoint me at all!

On the first day of the meeting I have learned a lot about Public Health initiatives in Europe. There was a presentation about EUPHAnxt (Sara Mc Quinn). Rocío Zurriago Carda, former president of EuroNet MRPH, taught us some history of our association. It included a very impressive movie of several former members, who are now working in different fields of Public Health all over the world. It showed me the importance of this network and the family-like involvement of all the individual members. Together we are stronger!
We were asked to use our brains and creativity in the working groups of internships, research and communication. I attended the one about internships. Did you already know that EuroNet MRPH facilitates internships throughout the continent? Read everything about it on the website! Cansu Erden Cengiz told us everything about the Turkish Public Health system and their network of residents. It led to an unanimous YES during the voting, which means that Turkey is now the 10th country joining the EuroNet MRPH. Together we are stronger!

The second day of the meeting started with a presentation of the new ethical statement of the association (Maria Francesca Manca) and an interesting update about the research working groups (Damir Ivankovic). Afterwards Robert Otok, the director of ASPHER, presented the work of the association and the professionalization. There were discussion groups of several very interesting topics, like big data. The day ended with a fun movie contest to promote EuroNet MRPH. A lot of attendees told their individual positive experiences with this network, some of the attendees introduced the EuroNet-song ‘Viva EuroNet’, but the winner was Juan Francisco with a short movie with a very clear message: ‘Together we are stronger!’.

Beside the serious topics during the meeting, Julio Munoz did a very good job to show us all the best things of Valencia. He organized good weather, so we could enjoy the beach and the sea after the meetings. He arranged the 2018 FIFA World Cup for some international competition between the different EuroNet countries. He taught us some very useful Spanish sentences, like ‘Please try to keep the hamster alive’. He found the best restaurants to have shared dinner and the weirdest bars to have some good fiestas toda la noche. He took his profession as an audio tour guide very serious, so nobody could get lost, unless they were not listening of course. He constructed cycle paths throughout Valencia, so the Dutchies couldn’t stop smiling while riding their bikes. He showed us the biggest pan of paella I have ever seen, and the best paella I have ever tasted for breakfast. And even during the last night he arranged a huge firework show to let Valencia know that the EuroNet MRPH-meeting has officially ended. Muchas gracias Julio!

After another short night of sleep, it was time for me to fly back home. I’m really glad that I was able to attend this meeting and thanks to everyone for the warm welcome, the interesting presentations and all the fun. Luckily there will be more meetings and thanks to the preview of Matej Vinko of the winter meeting in Slovenia, I know it’s going to be another awesome weekend. Are you joining as well? Always remember this: together we are stronger!

Ireeen Feenstra
Public health resident in the Netherlands

The recent Euronet meeting in Valencia proved a great opportunity to network with European colleagues. During the meeting I enjoyed listening to committed and enthusiastic public health residents from other European countries give their perspectives on their training and educational experiences. I also learned of some excellent practical initiatives that have been developed by Euronet including the internship programme which I believe will help interested public health residents strengthen their knowledge and experience in various areas of public health.

It is clear that Euronet is a growing organisation which is helping to connect public health residents across Europe. I would encourage any public health resident who is interested in Euronet to come along to the next meeting and take the opportunity to meet and develop links with European colleagues.

Desmond Hickey
Public health resident in Ireland

Discussion Groups Reports

Big Data
We organized a discussion group on themes related to Public Health Informatics (PHI), especially Big Data, during the Euronet Meeting in Valencia. Our group attracted much interest, becoming one of the biggest discussion group during the meeting.

The participants were involved in discussions about hot themes in the application of informatics and advanced data analysis to health problems: for example, what are Big Data, Electronic Health Records, machine learning and its possibilities and limitations, using geographic data for health planning, the range of possibilities for population studies allowed by the use of internet usage data, like search engines data, social network data (the so-called Digital Epidemiology), etc… We discussed such topics alternating request for information, personal experiences, and discussion of Public Health implications.

We also focused on the ethical implication of Big Data; we considered how essential is to get access to precise and rich data for better health programming, but much care must be taken regarding how this data is treated, stored and distributed. We made some examples, like being theoretically possible to identify specific persons using even anonymized data, or that insurance companies and employers could use genomic data about one person and treat them differently on a hypothetical risk of disease. We also discussed a bit regarding the new European law for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and its implications for research purposes. It was also remarked that data digitalization without enough technical expertise could lead to data losses or worse to exposition to informatic attacks (e.g., ransomware). We cited how the technology called Blockchain, the backend of the bitcoin, that works by creating encrypted, redundant, decentralized copies of the modifications of the data can be a solution to health data management, interchange, and security. It was also discussed that too much privacy in certain settings could hinder the development of research that would be beneficial for Public Health but not possible in these days for privacy and corporate concerns. One example are the limitations on access to Google Search and Twitter data that would allow to follow health discussion and even identify possible cases of disease a lot faster than usual surveillance systems.

These discussions led us to wonder if training provided by our Public Health Schools on this matter is enough and coherent with the rapid evolution of information technology. We thought about creating a Euronet working group which aim is to map the presence of informatics courses in Public Health training schools along Europe and evaluate which topics are covered and whether the program is up to date with the latest development. Finally, we created a WhatsApp discussion group where people can share material about the application of informatics to Public Health.

Climate Change
The climate change discussion group started small but gradually grew in members by the minute as word reached the street that it was “pretty hip”. The discussion included both the public health related outcomes of climate change and the actual activities that influence the climate change phenomenon.

The broadness of the discussion prompt was thoroughly explored. Here are some of the ideas that received more attention:
-How droughts and reduced access to water, can make the resources an object of conflict and a cause of population displacement.
-The expected rise in sea levels as another cause of population displacement and its effect on medical infrastructure.
-The social and economic impact of extreme events and the probability that countries with little experience on these events may be underprepared for a potential hit.
-Changes in vector and pathogen habitats that result in the displacement of diseases towards unsuspecting countries in colder, drier climates.
-The grim effect of both heat and cold waves that result in increased mortality.
-The pollution of the seas, the effects of microplastic and the current initiatives to tackle these issues.
-The effects of increased air pollution on suicide rates, perhaps due to an exacerbation of patients’ symptoms.
-The surprising fact that climate change hinders animal growth, thus resulting in smaller and smaller animals every year.

Two distinct outcomes resulted from this discussion. On one hand there is the question of whether EuroNet MRPH can or should do anything to contribute in the fight against Climate Change. A campaign was proposed to promote awareness within and beyond the association. This, to an extent, can be considered a current “work in progress” in the form of a carbon footprint estimation project proposed for the Valencia Summer Meeting; the idea of which is to estimate the amount of emissions caused by our means of transportation and how much it would actually cost to neutralize such an impact. The other outcome is the proposal of a working group on one of the different discussed subjects. The lack of easily accessible data was observed although there are some free to access resources on things like rainfall, meteorology or air pollution. The review of different national policies in countries represented in EuroNet and beyond was also suggested.

Although a specific line of work was not identified, climate change turned out to be an issue that leaves no one indifferent. This fact along with its pressing nature make it an excellent research theme for members of the association.

Nutrition
The working group discussed food and nutrition problems and related issues in order to get together, share ideas and present possible solutions. The case of in vitro meat opened the debate,and talking about its environmental and animal welfare arguments for development got us thinking about the cultural aspect of food as well. The group concluded it to be not a solution to the excessive meat consumption, but a complement to traditional burgers, expanding consumer choices. However, the different food demands (kosher, vegan, etc) of present days can be seen as a threat, because of the sustainability issues and cultural aspects. Food becomes less of a bridge and more of a problem when in the same community/society there are different schools of thought and very different food demands. Insect eating was another issue that raised the debate on why food is such an important part of our cultural heritage, and got us discussing how it would be really difficult to change mindsets, and on it taking a number of generations to accept this practice. The present practices are unsustainable and we don’t believe this practice, needing such a long time to produce results, would be a primary solution for the environmental concerns.

When talking about food one can never ignore the way food is actually being grown and produced. We talked about environmental concerns, such as the amount of land needed to feed animals for consumption, and the fish farming policies that make the fish grow faster but with loss of nutrition properties. Permaculture, seed biodiversity and the Monsanto problem were also discussed. We also discussed how the new diets/alternative eating styles are having both a positive and negative impact on health, positive or negative depending on the consumption of unprocessed or highly processed foods, respectively, and sustainability, depending on sourcing of the food (local vs imported).
We then talked about how the future diet would look like, bringing up the subject of the vegetarian and the reducetarian diets. This would definitely have an impact on the fish and meat economical sector, both on the implementation phase (to get people into these diets) and the maintenance phase (keeping these diets going for generations). The policies needed to reduce the consumption of these products would probably be around creating quotas for producers and new taxes for consumers.

The subject of the Common Agricultural Policy, implemented since the 60’s came to discussion regarding the previous subject. We talked about how this set of policies was created to solve the problems at that time, and that we now need to reduce subsidization gradually for the meat industry, to raise the subsidization for food & veg companies and tax the consumption following different rules.
The need for vending machine policies and the tax on sugar closed the working group session, and different participants talked about their countries present concerns and policies.

Fake Therapies
The discussion group was very participative, and was greatly nourished by the contributions of many residents in whose countries the health policies are very varied in these subjects. One of the central aspects of the talk was the daily medical work that the doctor must do in Hospital or at the consultation room, with a patient user of fake therapies. It became clear, that many times the physician lacks the time and the opportunity to explain (or even, argue) with the patient, but it’s always important to provide a support and understanding (never blame the patients for being scammed nor ridicule them for their choices). At least, it would be great to refer to places where the information is clear to clarify his/her doubts. It would be interesting to have a list of websites or pages where the societies talk informatively and rigorously about the most common pseudotherapies (Homeopathy, Chiropractic, Reiki …).

The participants talked about the various media strategies recently carried out in different parts of the world, on campaigns against anti-vaccine movements. For example, the case of the United States was brought up, where several anti-vaccine videos were published, dramatizing the danger and the health risks of young women who were vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus. Since they had a lot of social repercussion, the fire was fought with fire and the societies in favor of vaccination made a very similar type of video dramatizing the positive effects about safety and efficacy of the same vaccines, achieving even greater diffusion. Issues about the Health policy from various countries were also discussed (fines to parents in Australia, the requirement to present the vaccination cards for schooling in Italy, etc.)
Finally, experiences were exchanged on specific cases of users of pseudosciences and the legal perspective of many of them in Spain, through the legal gaps and jurisprudence of specific events.

Almost one year on from the Strasbourg meeting, EuroNet MRPH is back in France! The 2018 Spring meeting (occurring disturbingly early in March, from 7th to 10th) was hosted by the beautiful city of Nancy. It was excellently organised by a Nancy local, Hélène Rossinot and the French EuroNet MRPH National Commission, on the theme of prevention and health promotion.
The meeting was hosted in the Nancy Museum Aquarium, a natural history museum including over 60 aquariums and a zoology gallery. But, to avoid any fishy business, the sessions were held in the Lucien Cuénot amphitheatre, originally created in 1933 and beautifully restored with the original furniture in 2013.

1st day

The morning session of the meeting’s first day was dedicated to EuroNet MRPH working groups. After an the motivating opening welcome message by our President, Alberto Mateo, the participants split in four working groups. “Promoting Public Health as a career choice” working group was led by Damir Ivankovic. It was mostly a brainstorming exercise on how to promote Public Health among medical students, delightfully sprinkled with philosophical insights. Further discussion is needed to determine what role EuroNet MRPH could play in this matter, and if this should be formalized with a permanent working group. A second group was led by Matej Vinko, EuroNet MRPH Vice-President, aiming to edit the position paper “On the future of Public Health in the European Union”, as the deadline was that same day. We are proud to say that this was a success. A third group was the “LGBT+ Residents’ Health and working environment” working group, led by Damiano Cerasuolo. It carried on the work already started in Lisbon, during the Euronet winter meeting, by reviewing a questionnaire medical and Public Health residents concerned by this subject across Europe. The last group, led by our communication lead, Gloria Raguzzoni, set up a plan to improve the way we promote our internships and discussed innovative ways of improving our communication channels.

The afternoon session commenced with the official inauguration of the meeting, in the presence of local authority head figures. The welcome speech was given by André Rossinot, president of Grand Nancy Metropole, Laurent Hénart, mayor of Nancy, Bruno Boyer from the Conseil National de l’ordre des médecins (National Board of Doctors), Auldric Ratajczak from the Agence Régionale de Santé Grand Est and François Werner who is in charge of the coordination of European policies in the Grand-Est region and vice president of Nancy Metropole.

Then followed the round table “Local prevention policies” that saw the participation of François Werner, Auldric Ratajczak and Marie Catherine Tallot deputy mayor of Nancy in charge of health. The talk focused on the strategies set up by the ARS (the local health agency) and the local institutions to promote health projects, addressing main issues and needs of the population.

2nd day

The theme of the second day of the meeting was prevention in hospitals. First, we had the presentation of the “Health Promotion Corner in the Hospital”. Le cercle sens & santé is a “think-to-do-tank”, created in 2014 as an ideas generator and processor. Its goal is to develop better hospitals of the future (www.cerclesensetsante.com). Prevention actor club is an association created in 2014 whose main goal is to transform waiting times in hospitals into recreational time and provide opportunities to promote healthy lifestyles, providing “Health for all” in the hallway. Example of activities included Zumba; yoga and cooking classes in hospitals; monthly activity program; leaflets; a photo booth with the prevention slogan; banners for public health campaign promotion, to name just a few. This project is undergoing a trial phase and will be launched in May at Paris HealthCare Week. We then had a round table with a hospital infection control committee responsible officer, occupational health physician and Nancy’s Hospital manager to discuss the risks of occupational diseases in hospitals and preventive measures.

The afternoon was dedicated to the traditional assembly of the association. Lois Murray, from the UK, presented a possible EuroNet MRPH partnership with EuroNGOs for sexual and reproductive health and rights advocacy opportunities. It is an organization in which she worked and proposed to be the liaison lead. We then shared ideas for EuroNet MRPH participation in World Health Day. Finally, the climax of the meeting was the presentation of the candidacy of Valencia to host the 2018 summer meeting. It was thoroughly prepared by Julio Muñoz, and although he was not present, it is safe to say this performance will be remembered for decades and will inspire future generations of EuroNetters.

Social events

As part of the social programme, we had the chance to explore the beautiful city of Nancy and discover a bit of its rich history. The main square is the famous Place Stanislas, sometimes humbly referred to as “the most beautiful square in the world”. It is named after Stanisław I Leszczyński, former Ruler of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (and father-in-law to King Louis XV of France), who acquired the Duchy of Upper Lorraine, of which Nancy was the capital, after the War of the Polish Succession in 1737.

On the first evening, we were invited to a typical French restaurant called “Vins et tartines”. We tasted different kinds of toasts and local wine. We were also encouraged to taste some local whisky, and a liquor of a fruit called “Mirabelle” (which literally means “beautiful to see” by the way). Damir pointed out that this schnappsy liquor with a fancy name is basically what they call šljivovica in the Balkans, which is not considered fancy at all. After that, the whisky/liquor-resilient comrades went to wander around to experience Nancy by night.

The second evening took place in another typical French restaurant, where we had the chance to taste some fine cuisine. Despite a poultry problem, it was a very nice experience. As the night was still young, most of us went out once again to enjoy Nancy by night. There was music, there was fire, and people danced like they got out of jail, together in a beautiful communion of the nations!

To conclude, it was once again a wonderful meeting, thanks to Hélène and the French National Commission, for all the organisational efforts, thanks to the welcoming people of Nancy and thanks to the wonderful residents who attended it!

Damiano Cerasuolo, Damir Ivankovic, Gisela Leiras, Clément Massonnaud, Lois Murray

Story from Nancy

Shortly after I joined France’s Public Health team in October, I heard about Euronet mainly through CLISP (National Public Health Resident Association in France), and I was quite curious about European Public health Association.

My name is Manon Burgat, I live in Dijon and I am a French resident.
At the beginning, my main interest in Euronet meeting was to do a training course in a European Country and to improve my English vocabulary.
But it turned out to be more than that. EuroNet MRPH leaves its marks, physically (probably just the Nancy’s one) and in your heart.
Nancy’s meeting occurred in March, from the 8th to the 10th. It’s a beautiful city, known for “La place Stanislas”, listed in the UNESCO world heritage and also for ”macarons” French biscuits. Moreover it’s not far from Dijon. (173 kilometres to be precise)

I am not going to write about the food poisoning, the disease we’ve all survived, the amazing people I met, the 2018 women’s day, the general assembly or the crazy nights we’ve spent. I just want to write you about Public health promotion.

Public health promotion was the title of one of the working groups we had during Thursday morning. It was led by Damir, a Croatian resident. Only French people attended this working group, supposing public health had a poor reputation among French students.

A lot of ideas were developed. We began our work with the premise that there is no common definition of“Public health”. What is it? What is the daily routine of a public health doctor? Do you define public health by quoting the different possibilities of work?
In France for example, students don’t choose medical studies to be a public health doctor. They choose it to cure, to save, and to help patients. To study clinic’s. (Public spirit 🙂 ). The speciality is not well known, and it is just at the end of the medical school that French students start to think about choosing public health speciality. Furthermore, there is no public health work experience during the first years. And at the final exam, public health is one of the last specialty chosen.

After this analysis, what can we do to make public health more glamourous or attractive?
We can take for example a look at what they did in the United States. They had a  campaign “this is public health “ created by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health in order to “brand public health and raise awareness of how public health affects individuals, families, communities, and populations”. In the US, public health is very attractive among students!
From there, we talked mainly about having “public health promoter” in cities who can talk about public health, in conferences for example. We can do European leaflets with a cool headline, distribute them in each country. We could have a reference website, where public health work is described…

We are at the beginning of the working group and there is so much left to do to promote public health. And not only in France! All your ideas are welcome! Go to Valencia and share them with us! 🙂

Manon Burgat
Public Health Resident, Dijon

The challenge was not only to organize the next EuroNet MRPH Winter Meeting in Lisbon, but also to create the first Medical Residents of Public Health Conference in just 4 months and with a very low budget!

The EuroNet’s Portuguese team was very enthusiastic about this idea, as the country has experienced an increase in the number of MRPH in the last few years; Lisbon is also now a very popular city for tourism and Portugal had not hosted a EuroNet MRPH meeting since the end of 2014. Also, there was no better way to celebrate 5 years of Portuguese EuroNet MRPH membership – a network that is also having an excellent year so far!

The YPHE – Young Public Health in Europe (EuroNet MRPH Winter Meeting) took place in Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública/Public Health National School, from the 30th November to the 2nd December. There were 71 participants, from 9 member countries, of which 33 were Portuguese, making it the biggest meeting in EuroNet MRPH history.
The well-prepared, rich and detailed Scientific program was great! The first session on 30th November - “From data to knowledge” - presented the importance of using data, especially in the emergency field. This was followed by two workshops: one about communication, with a fascinating journey through high-impact communication and some key points when storytelling; the other workshop was titled “inside the mind of an epidemiologist”. A session on training and professional development in Public Health raised a very interesting debate, where questions and interventions from participants were welcomed. Other stimulating workshops included: the using of social media in research; how to get what you want from meetings; and drug monitoring and effectiveness. The quality of the workshops caused the young MRPH some difficulty when choosing between sessions!

The 1st December was the highlight of the scientific programme: a session about how data will shape our cities from a PH perspective and then the last big challenge: “the elevator pitch”. Delegates were divided into small groups and tasked with looking for creative solutions for PH problems. It was an incredible adventure, every group prepared a 3 minute presentation. Some observations? Suffice to say, we loved developing HEALTH4ALL in this friendly, funny, amazing way. The afternoon provided the perfect opportunity to show so many of the 1st year MRPH the EuroNet style and its pillars: networking, internship and research.

However..…what would be a EuroNet meeting without the social events?
The social programme aimed to create strong bonds between EuroNet’s members and facilitate cultural exchanges and discoveries. And because we were in Portugal, the programme was as “quente” as the weather!

The first two social events occurred in the restaurants of Lisbon. During the first one, we listened to Fado, which is a popular kind of music with melancholy themes and strings instruments. The second night involved an European Public Health quiz! We split into mixed-country teams to try to answer the 30 questions and compete for the prize! (For the winning team: special thanks to Damir and the Croatian wine lovers.) Each event progressed to partying in the bars and clubs of the city.

For the third social event, the nightlife was traded for a cultural visit to the neighbourhood of Belém, accompanied by two guides. We walked through Belém, learning about all its history: from the big earthquake of 1755, to the story of boats leaving the harbours to discover the world, expanding the Portuguese empire; from the story of the royal family to the presidential palace of today. And of course the history of the “pastéis de Belém”, that we not only listened to but also tasted!

The consensus was that the 2017 Euronet meeting had been an enjoyable success. The choice of Lisbon allowed us to enjoy the sun and the Portuguese team did a fantastic job of organising an array of interesting speakers and workshops, information, lunches and other things. A lot of new faces joined the network in this meeting and we hope that more will continue to do so, to help the young European Public Health community flourish. Can’t wait to see 2018!

Mariana Carrapatoso, Viviana Santoro, Melchior de Giraud d’Agay, Matt Robinson
Public Health Medical Residents from Portugal, Italy, France and Ireland

Motovun Meeting | 7-8 July 2017

This year EuroNet Summer Meeting was in the beautiful city of Motovun in the Istrian hills of Croatia. Our wonderful hosts were the Croatian EuroNet team and the Croatian Public Health residents, consultants and colleagues from across the country. Twenty-one EuroNet members attended from 8 member countries. The meeting was coupled with the Croatian National Health Systems and Health Policy Conference, which provided a great opportunity to network and exchange knowledge and ideas.

Developing and building on existing partnerships was a key topic at the Summer Meeting. As EuroNet MRPH grows in size, we know that the partnerships we form and the work we can do with partner organisations becomes more and more important. One of the organisations we have a partnership with is European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), who will be organising a health advocacy workshop for us in Brussels on 28 and 29 September 2017. The workshop has proved hugely popular and is now full! A newly strengthened partnership is with the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). ASPHER wants to reform the public health curriculum, by defining competencies a public health professional should have. We spent time discussing how competencies are integrated into the various European curricula. Furthermore, ASPHER had asked for a member of EuroNet to sit on their Executive Board and on their professionalisation committee: a great opportunity to further strengthen the relationship between ASPHER and EuroNet MRPH and work together more closely in future.

Internships are one of the core areas EuroNet works on, acting as a mediator between resident and institution, promoting opportunities for residents and actively searching for internship institutions. Goals this year are to institute internship tutors, to do a follow up study of the past three years, to evaluate the past six months, to plan the next year and to get more national and international placements, so the working group have a busy agenda ahead!

The EuroNet Platform launched during the Spring Meeting in Strasbourg is now LIVE and ready to go! The Platform is a unique new digital platform that gives residents the opportunity to collaborate on public health research projects. Visit the platform at www.euronetplatform.com.

The meeting was an opportunity to hear from colleagues from around Croatia about the work they are doing and learn from them. We were really lucky to receive a talk from the Cochrane Collaboration Team and we also heard from Professor Stjepan Oreskovic on the issue of leadership, something that as a group we know is important area for us to develop during residency to be able to effectively lead and manage change within our organisations.

Planning ahead: at the European Public Health conference in Stockholm this November we are co-organising a workshop with EuphaNXT and Young Forum Gastein about presenting a scientific work to a non-scientific audience. There will be two speakers; a journalist and a public health professional with experience in communicating with a variety of audiences and working internationally in public health.

As you know, EuroNet has always been a place to make both work links and long lasting friendships, and the meeting provided plenty of opportunity to get to know each other better over delicious food and drink.

See you in Lisbon!