From 'Public Health in Europe' to 'European Public Health'

Abstract

Take an evening off and go through the last issues of this Journal . You will find a nice composition of articles on public health issues with a European perspective. Most of them deal with major problems of public health like smoking, alcohol, social inequalities, obesity, etc. Furthermore, most of these articles analyse and compare the situation in several European countries identifying good or best practice examples on what should be done. Thus, it is about ‘Public Health in Europe’. There are also comments on what the European Commission is doing, is not doing or should be doing. This is fine, but nevertheless it is responsive. Where is the proactive approach of public health towards Europe and especially European integration? And has public health lost its memory on recent European history? Looking at the issues of this Journal from 2007 onwards you hardly find articles devoted to 50 years of Europe,1 or in 2009, to the fall of the Berlin Wall. What you find are articles suggesting … Correspondence: Helmut Brand, Maastricht University, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School of Public Health and Primary Care (caphri), 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. e-mail: helmut.brand{at}inthealth.unimaas.nl