A partner meeting of the project SPHERE (Strengthening Public Health Research in the EU) was held on the 15th November in Montreux, a day before the EUPHA (European Public Health Association) conference.
The broad objective of SPHERE is to assist in creating an “European Public Health Research Area” by describing public health research at European level, including support by national governments and advice how it can be strengthen and most effectively integrated with European health policy.
At the meeting in Montreux, the project partners presented major findings from their own literature reviews on a variety of public health issues, which are broadly grouped in three main parts:
bibliographic literature reviews on health services, environmental protection, genetic epidemiology, health management, communicable disease control and health promotion;
description of structures and perceptions from ministries of health and research, European institutions, non-governmental organisations, researchers and allied research organisations;
- development of dialogue to promote a shared agenda and more closely match research needs of policy-makers with capacity of the European public health research community.
At the EUPHA Conference, the project was visible in two workshops:
a first workshop which presented major findings from the literature reviews on the public health issues mentioned above, with a presentation of bibliometric approaches.
a second workshop which involved presentations from the European Commission’s representatives on the forthcoming EU 7th Framework research Programme 2007-2013 and on the current public heath programme.
Public health research is particularly relevant to Europe because public health action happens at population level and is strongly influenced by policies and cultural contexts. Variations that are valuable for comparative research exist at both national and local levels, while demonstrating effective public health interventions depends on measuring changes in population health overtime.
EPHA related articles: The SPHERE project - Strengthening Public Health Research in Europe
