The role of non-governmental organisations in European Public Health: 'yes we can'

Abstract

On the eve of celebrating European Public Health Association’s (EUPHA’s) 20th anniversary, it is a good moment to reflect on the use, misuse and especially underuse of non-governmental organisations (NGO) in European public health policy and planning. There are numerous NGOs in Europe, supporting, promoting and disseminating public health in Europe. Some are aimed at specific professionals, such as the European Health Management Association (EHMA, health managers) and the European Federation of Nurses (the nursing profession). Others represent certain institutions and universities, such as the Association of Schools of public health in the European Region and EuroHealthNet (representing national institutes of public health). The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) is representing the consumers, and a large number of NGOs represent specific public health issues or diseases. Without doubt, all these European NGOs have an added value in European public health. Representing public health professionals in the largest sense as well as consumers, these NGOs can assist in setting up and disseminating European public health policy. But the question remains whether this added value is used and exploited to the maximum. European institutions have significantly increased their work with NGOs in the past …