European Public Health News * EUPHA President's Column * EUPHAnxt: young professionals and European Public Health: a challenge for the future * Message from the Who Regional Director for Europe: impact of the financial crisis on health systems and health * Message from the European Commissioner for Health and Consumers: ensuring that every patient in need receives safe blood *

Abstract

In this European public health news, the economic crisis’ impact on health and health spending is again on the agenda. It needs an effort from the public health professionals to inform policy makers regarding the impact of their decisions on health (Ricciardi, Jakab). It also needs a continued commitment both from the professionals (Bert, van der Star) and from those beyond the field of public health (Borg). # EUPHA President’s Column {#article-title-2} During the past 2 decades, most European countries have made impressive progress in population health. This progress has, however, been uneven, and the health divide across the European region is unacceptably large. The noteworthy heterogeneity of health progress in the European population could result from intrinsic differences in resources for health care (including support for basic measures such as control of tobacco and hypertension), in willingness to take action, or in negative effects of political divisions.1 We at EUPHA argue that conditions that improve population health have to be shaped in the policy arena to suit national and regional circumstances. If so, what measures are available to policy makers in Europe to increase the success of public health policies in the face of the financial crisis and ageing populations? Examining the health status of European citizens, but also including a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of European health policy over the past decades, is a challenge for our public health community. We need to assess the health effects of different social and economic policies and the associations between health and health systems. We have also to improve our understanding of the remarkably low life expectancy in the Commonwealth of Independent States (and the related quality of health care) and better analyze migrants’ difficulties in accessing health services. In times of economic downturn, people who are disadvantaged are more affected than others. Going …