Public health

Public health aims to improve the health of populations by keeping people healthy, improving their health and by preventing disease. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 is a stark reminder of the need to be better prepared to deal with public health challenges. The European Observatory has been leading on a wide range of activities that aim to guide policy-makers to more effective public health action.

Public health aims to improve the health of populations by keeping people healthy, improving their health or preventing deterioration through disease. Typical public health activities include surveillance of population health, the response to health hazards and emergencies (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), health protection (e.g. through addressing environmental or occupational risk factors), health promotion (including action to address social determinants and health inequities) and disease prevention (including through early detection). 

While the emerging discipline of public health in the 18th and 19th centuries was mainly concerned with environmental causes of ill health, such as poor housing conditions or lack of clean water, in the second half of the 19th century the focus began shifting towards the development of personal preventive services. Maternal and child health services began to be established and mass vaccination was introduced. Already by the early 20th century, there was a recognition that public health would also be needed to tackle chronic diseases whilst, in recent decades, there has been a realization that public health will be required to address the social, political and commercial determinants of health, including through action outside the health system, such as through Health in All (HiA) policies. 

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 is a stark reminder of the need to be better prepared to deal with public health challenges, including public health emergencies. 

Even before the pandemic, Health 2020, the health policy framework of the WHO European Region, emphasized the need for public health action, especially by means of intersectoral policies, with concerted efforts to strengthen public health services and capacity across Europe. 

Over the past two decades, the Observatory has been leading on a wide range of activities that aim to guide policy-makers to more effective public health action. These included work on Health in All (HiA) policies, intersectoral governance tools, the organization and financing of public health services, the role of public health organizations in addressing public health problems, the organization and delivery of vaccination services, contemporary public health practice, the impact of health policies on population health in Europe, and policies to tackle antimicrobial resistance.  

The Observatory has also set up the COVID-19 Health Systems Response Monitor (HSRM) to track COVID-19 response measures across European countries.