Pre-conference on monitoring public health trends and policies at the European Public Health Conference

2011-11-09

The presentations given at the institute’s pre-conference can now be found on our website, please see Related links.

The Swedish National Institute of Public Health is holding a pre-conference, “Monitoring public health trends and public health policies in the 21st century”, just prior to the start of the annual European Public Health Conference in Copenhagen on Thursday, November 10th.

Public health monitoring presents unique challenges and opportunities, where the effects of implemented policies are often first seen after longer periods and in sectors of society other than where initial efforts may have taken place. Establishing valid indicators, monitoring systems, and reporting methods that allow for policymakers to obtain a clear picture over both current public health status and developing trends requires unique methods and co-ordination locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.  The Institute’s own Public Health Policy Report, released most recently last year, is Sweden’s main channel for monitoring and reporting public health policy effects, and the indicators used in that report are under continual development.  The pre-conference hopes to gain insight and provide knowledge exchange regarding other countries’ monitoring and reporting methods and to build collaborations for continued improvement in these activities.

The pre-conference will be opened with a keynote presentation by Professor Bo Burström of the Karolinska Institute, followed by presentations of the national monitoring methods from Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands.  Open contributions regarding monitoring methods from attendees from other countries, as well as discussions identifying future challenges and opportunities in monitoring trends and policies are also on the programme, which can be read below.

The European Public Health Conference is organized by the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), an international, multidisciplinary, scientific organization composed of over 12 000 public health experts and 42 national public health agencies and associations. The EUPHA and the annual conference contribute to capacity and knowledge building, as well as supporting practice and policy decisions through scientific evidence via collaborative efforts. The Swedish National Institute of Public Health therefore sees this venue as a valuable opportunity for developing better public health policy monitoring methods in partnership with other international actors.