The Gastein Conversations

In light of the multiple crises facing the continent, this plenary will examine where Europe stands now, and in what ways a true European Health Union can offer solutions to the challenges with which the continent is confronted. Can a European Health Union better equip Europe to deal with these crises and address the complex interplay of forces behind them? The shocks experienced in recent years could serve as triggers to move towards concerted efforts to tackle the shared complex challenges that have come to the fore.

We have been brutally reminded of the importance of peace for health, of looking out for the most vulnerable in our societies, of better supporting, training and equipping our frontline workers, and of the importance of making ambitious efforts to move global health forward on European political agendas. What does this vision of a moonshot for a Health Union involve, with what new fuel can the initiative be powered, and what actions need to be taken to guide the moonshot on the right trajectory before the window of opportunity for launch closes? Is a European Health Union the bold new approach needed to help restore the equity, solidarity and trust that of late has been repeatedly called into question?

Human civilisation is in the midst of a fragile and difficult time, facing a complex set of interconnected challenges. How can we manage and tackle this complexity, and move forward effectively? The concept of One Health recognises the interplay of the four spheres of people, plants, animals and their environment in shaping health and well-being, and offers a paradigm for addressing the interconnected threats.

Yet One Health thinking has been around for over 20 years and implementing such a concept has to date remained relatively elusive. This plenary will consider the hurdles already experienced in attempting to operationalise this concept and explore how we can overcome them.

What does a One Health approach mean in practice for different stakeholders? Do recent initiatives combined with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic offer a step-change to ensure that this time round a One Health approach can finally be put into practice to tackle health threats and build a healthier, more equitable and sustainable future for all? If not now, when?

It feels like Europe is lurching from one crisis to another: against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and debates about how to build forward better with a green recovery, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has precipitated a new range of wicked and complex challenges, from humanitarian and refugee crises to economic shocks and a cost-of-living crisis borne from soaring energy, food and fuel prices.

Some of these crises were predicted and unsurprising – the impact of the climate crisis was already being felt, with parts of Europe experiencing abnormally high temperatures, wildfires and severe flooding in recent years. A pandemic had been on the cards for a while, with experts warning one was “overdue”, although no-one predicted the sheer global scale or impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Other events have escalated beyond imagination – such as Russia´s invasion of Ukraine. With paradigms shaken, lives upended and a geopolitical realignment threatening the international rules-based order as we know it, this plenary will reflect on the complex challenges faced by Europe, how they will impact and reshape the European Union, and what they mean for the future of health and well-being across the continent.

For many years, and further accelerated by the COVID19 pandemic, countries across Europe have been encouraged to transform their health systems to improve patient access to good quality and affordable care services that are person-centred and digitally enabled. Despite their specific challenges, countries in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe CEE have shown to create local health transformation successes. The session discussion will address current practices and their success factors from patient and professional perspectives.

Panellists shall reflect on the lessons learned from the Net4Care initiative, a network supported by Roche, including approaches to patient-centred design of integrated services, implementation, and up-scaling whilst delivering financial and regulatory requirements. Multiple stakeholders will discuss the implications for concrete policy action and related instruments, formulating key points to strengthen public-private collaboration for health system transformation in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe.

The COVID-19 pandemic represented a watershed moment in demonstrating the fundamental need for transversal societal resilience in health. The EU was quick to rise to the occasion with tailored crisis preparedness and response measures as the first building blocks of a European Health Union. However, the crisis also led to the collective realisation that a focus on citizen wellbeing across all EU policymaking is possible and shows true promise.

Since then multiple crises have significantly altered the European political environment. The climate crisis and resulting natural disasters and migratory challenges, the war in Ukraine and resulting energy and economic crises, risk of pandemics and more represent a challenge for prioritising health and wellbeing.

In this context, the health community must ensure that health and wellbeing remain a priority for European policymakers. The 2024 European elections will be a milestone in this regard. If we are to ensure a resilient European Union in the face of ever-evolving global threats, the Commission must keep health as a priority ahead of the 2024 elections with a view to wellbeing becoming an integral objective of EU policymaking.

In this session, participants will reflect on what needs to be done to reaffirm the relevance of health at the EU level against a backdrop of the ongoing global climate, economic and health crises. Join us to work towards a healthier and more prosperous society by ensuring that health & wellbeing remain a central theme of the 2024 European elections!

A new EU Global Health Strategy is being shaped as we speak, with a European Commission communication to be released before the end of 2022. The Strategy will steer the European community’s action points up until 2030 - a time of daunting health and geopolitical challenges.

As the wide-reaching public consultation for the Strategy draws to a close, what do stakeholders in the EU and beyond, not least in the Global South suggest? This interactive session provides participants with a unique opportunity to engage as the Strategy is being developed. The Commission’s DG SANTE Director General Sandra Gallina, and distinguished guests, will comment on the recommendations and input provided by a broad range of audience voices and stakeholders.

How should the EU respond to the challenges at hand? What should the Strategy’s priorities be to extend across the whole health policy landscape? How should EU policy shape the emerging new world health order?

What do we know about the quality of the air Europeans breathe every day when indoors, and how does it compare to WHO guidelines? What are some significant sources of air pollution indoors? Should policy focus on regulating these sources or setting emission standards?

While outdoor air quality has been regulated at the EU level for many years, indoor air quality remains largely outside the legislative framework despite people spending over 90% of their time indoors.

However, the quality of the air people breathe when indoors has been brought to the forefront of the public conversation during the pandemic. It is therefore important to utilise this momentum and drive the conversation further to develop EU policies and regulations.

This session will open the discussion for recommendations to tackle indoor air quality from a multidisciplinary, Health in All Policies perspective, as part of the drive to reimagine the built environment in a way that protects human and planetary health.

Recent scientific and technological breakthroughs in cancer care mean that patients now have the potential to live longer and better lives; however, demographics and the socioeconomic impact of cancer continues to affect individuals, families, and societies. Panellists spanning academia, advocacy, and policy will explore whether Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is a case example for the Health Union to respond to the societal demands of the rising challenge of cancer.

Oncology experts from Australia, Romania, and Switzerland will provide insights from their research, including evidence-based and forward-looking policy recommendations that address the broader financial impact of cancer care whilst delivering better health outcomes for cancer patients. Discussion will centre around the ways in which effective policy can overcome the shared barriers to care, tackle health inequities, and minimise the socioeconomic costs of cancer in Europe and beyond.

Listen to members of the NLO network discuss the EHFG programme through the lens of marginalised communities, interview relevant experts, and envision what must be done to make sure nobody is left outside when creating a true European Health Union. The overarching question asks what needs be done to make sure nobody is left outside the healthcare system? The conversation will be built on sharing reflections of the day, related to conference sessions as well as overall observations and ideas.

The Von der Leyen Commission has announced a full revamp of the rules around the pharmaceutical sector in Europe, with the headline commitment that the EU will find treatments for unmet needs and will ensure that EU citizens, regardless of where they live, have access to the best medicines. All actors in the European healthcare systems agree with these objectives. But will they agree on how to achieve them?

In this interactive session, participants are invited to experience the roles of those they sometimes challenge in policy debates: for example, payers will have the opportunity to play industry representatives, patients to play regulators and industry to play civil servants from ministries of health or finance. The goal: design the best pharmaceutical ecosystem for Europe moving forward. The difficulty: everyone wants to take different approaches and actions, but without concerted efforts towards collaboration, no one will win!

Join us and walk a mile in someone else´s shoes!

Healthcare systems are struggling to find solutions to the mounting pandemic of inequity of healthcare provision. Debilitating inequalities of access to care are spiralling, which is a critical barrier to delivery of equitable care. Solving health inequalities in healthcare does not wholly lie with any one stakeholder. Sustainable success and solutions will only be delivered through clarity of goals, innovative and inclusive community-based programmes, conscious collaborations between the public and private sector, and accelerated, measured impact.

The session will convene eminent experts to discuss barriers and benchmarks to support improved equitable access to healthcare for at-risk communities. Panellists will reflect on real-life learnings, including those from the COVID-19 pandemic, and debate what a potential 2030 roadmap to success looks like for the EU Member States.  What are the building blocks policymakers and system funders need to have in place to be able to provide and facilitate the impact from a consortium of players? How can we incentivise collective and innovative thinking? What do we expect specifically from the pharmaceutical sector?

We invite you to join this session, delivered by Porter Novelli Health, to explore how to best support goals to remove health inequalities across Europe through innovative policy design.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, national governments took complex policy decisions for the good of public health and with the aim to limit transmission and save lives. Some of these public health measures raised difficult ethical questions about proportionality when individuals’ freedoms were restricted in the name of the common good.

In this session, we will look at the lessons learned from the current pandemic and reflect on the complexity of the measures taken in the pursuit of bringing a pandemic under control and protecting lives, whilst also safeguarding peoples’ wellbeing, respecting individual rights and protecting livelihoods.

We will reflect on whether public health ethics should be integrated in future preparedness planning and how we can work together in a multisectoral way. What evidence and mechanisms are needed to embed these into governance structures with a view to a healthier, more equitable and sustainable future for all?

EU Member State representatives will also share their experiences, and talk about the rationale and processes behind their public health efforts during the pandemic.

Join us in the discussions where we aim to actively engage with you.

As the COVID-19 dust slowly settles, we are reminded of public health enemy number one: the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Existing efforts to prevent NCDs are clearly not sufficient to weather the socio-economic storm caused by ageing populations and lowering fertility rate.  Societies shall face economic and resource challenges in the prevention of inequitable healthcare.

The most effective solution to ensure sustainable and fair healthcare systems is to shift their design to keeping people healthier for longer, and to prevent the preventable. Enter predictive genomics.

What is predictive genomics, and can it innovate prevention? What are the risks? Four experts will debate these questions and more in a fast-paced debate where the audience participants will have their say on the future of predictive genomics.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis have reminded us once again that health promotion and building community capacity for health are crucial building blocks for the long-term well-being of our society, for solidarity and for resilient and responsive settings and health systems. They provide new approaches for sustainability and contribute to the co-creation of wellbeing societies as proclaimed in the Geneva Charter for Wellbeing, as well as to the European Health Union and the European Green Deal Strategy.

In this session we will:

• Provide a mapping of the most promising health promotion flagship initiatives in Europe with respect to empowerment, participation, and mental health
• Emphasise the evidence-base for health promotion and discuss the importance of innovative intersectoral approaches
• Address caring communities as an initiative from civil society fostering empowerment, participation and care
• Address the health co-benefits of climate action at the community level
• Touch on selected future endeavours in the field

Join us to discuss the inter-connectedness of health promotion, re-orienting health services and climate action and envision how local initiatives, innovative intersectoral approaches and policy developments at the European level can work together to make a difference.

The Economy of Wellbeing (EoW) is a policy and governance approach which puts people and their wellbeing at the centre of decision-making. The EoW covers material factors, such as housing, income and jobs, and factors related to quality of life such as education, skills, health, gender equality and security. In the long term, an EoW aims at strengthening equity, societal resilience and environmental sustainability. The COVID-19 experience demonstrates how crucial an EoW can be to the short- and medium-term fiscal sustainability and societal stability.

While not being an entirely new model, the EoW is a policy change-maker and has far-reaching economic, social and political implications. Investing in people´s health and wellbeing has wider co-benefits for other sectors, including economic growth and environmental sustainability, while not doing so generates wider societal co-costs.

This session highlights the real-world significance and experiences of piloting, scaling-up and implementing the EoW - in the EU and beyond.

Despite being the most common cause of death from infections, including COVID-19, sepsis is not yet sufficiently known amongst lay people and health professionals. One in five deaths worldwide is caused by sepsis.

Low awareness rates make it difficult for patients and clinicians to detect sepsis symptoms in time and respond adequately. However, sepsis can be easily treated. Early recognition and cost-effective tools can save lives and minimise the socio-economic burden on health systems. Yet, still today, too many sepsis patients die or suffer long-term consequences from wrong diagnoses and therapies.

In this session, we will learn about sepsis from the patient perspective, share new data on the quality of sepsis care, and discuss its importance in infection management and AMR strategies. We will present sepsis as an indicator of the quality of care, explore best practices in sepsis management, and discuss how harmonised approaches at the EU level could save lives across Europe.

As healthcare budgets become increasingly under pressure from a number of factors, not least the rising cost of pharmaceuticals have caused concern for healthcare payers and therefore attracted much attention from policy-makers in a continent where access to universal health is the guiding principle.

As the EU prepares for a thorough revision of the pharmaceutical legislation, the question is if and how the EU can deliver for healthcare payers and ultimately patients?

This session draws on the views of healthcare payers, patients, and industry to consider the options available for the EU to deliver on the affordability agenda. Stronger evidence gathering, increased competition (both inter- and intra-brand) and exclusivity periods are among the key topics the experts will discuss with the welcome input of the participants.

Listen to members of the NLO network discuss the EHFG programme through the lens of marginalised communities, interview relevant experts, and envision what must be done to make sure nobody is left outside when creating a true European Health Union.

Health systems are facing significant challenges from a fiscal sustainability perspective. Reasons range from the growing health and long-term care demands of an ageing population to costly technological progress in medical services and the impact of pandemics. To cope with rising health expenditures, the availability of funding is key to ensuring sustainable, innovative, and resilient health systems. It is therefore crucial to demonstrate the financial sustainability of investments in health and the concomitant benefits to all stakeholders.

This session will examine existing and potential future funding mechanisms and other innovative solutions contributing to make health systems more sustainable, environmentally friendlier, and efficient while delivering high quality care. Through insights from public funders, best practices, new initiatives, and interactive discussions, the session will reflect on how to address existing and forthcoming challenges to achieve a sustainable and innovative health system within a common European Health Union.

Organ donation is one of the truest acts of solidarity. Yet, policies and practices in donation, transplantation, and aftercare differ across Europe, resulting in unequal transplantation access and disparate patient outcomes. The European Health Union must strive for equity in access and quality of care no matter where patients live, creating a level playing field across the bloc.

Building upon the EU Action Plan on Organ Donation and Transplantation (2009-2015), this session will explore what needs to be done, and by whom, to facilitate equity, efficiency, quality, and safety for all patients so nobody is left behind. An EU-wide data framework, patient literacy, national policies, and clinical practice guidelines can help ensure a successful transplantation journey.

Our speakers encompass patients, clinicians, data experts, national officials, and EU policymakers. We invite you to join this session to help the European Society for Organ Transplantation validate and refine its Manifesto, obtaining further endorsement in the future.

The Oslo Medicines Initiative (OMI) was launched in 2020 as a collaboration between the WHO European Region and the Government of Norway, as part of the European Programme of Work, United Action for Better Health.

The OMI underscores the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors, and other key stakeholders, to develop potential joint solutions for improving access to novel medicines.

This session will celebrate the achievements of the OMI and will highlight some key policy considerations that can be explored further to advance the access to novel medicines agenda.

Health data is pivotal to expand disease knowledge, progress R&D and innovation, strengthen and adapt healthcare systems, inform policies and practices; and ultimately improve patients’ lives – all the more so in the area of rare diseases.

How will the European Health Data Space (EHDS), a major pillar of the European Health Union, allow us to build a robust and harmonised European health data ecosystem for rare diseases? How will it help develop a strong evidence base in Europe to support safety, efficacy and value assessment of transformative therapies? What does a successful EHDS look like, that supports quality care for rare disease patients and ensures patient engagement in decisions concerning use of their data?

Join this session to explore the role of the European Health Data Space in defining tomorrow’s care pathways for rare diseases using the case study of haemophilia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the centrality of health and care workers to deliver quality health services and to build resilient health systems.

We will take the opportunity of this session to present the main findings of the WHO European report on health and care workforce “Health and care workforce in Europe: Time to act”. At the same time, we look forward debating with the audience and panellists the priority policy actions to strengthen the health workforce in Europe. We will discuss the role of the European Health Union in the implementation of these priority actions and in responding to changing health and health workforce needs in Europe, including its role supporting the EU accessing countries in putting the health workforce centre stage.

It has been several decades’ worth of shooting for the moon: why haven’t we made it yet?

Despite the freedom of movement afforded by the EU, care is still defined nationally and locally – by the language, the systems and platforms, and by policies. Data mobility is set to revolutionize European healthcare by enabling individuals to become more active and empowered participants in their future digital lives. But for as many exciting opportunities as there are, precautions must be considered, and the question needs to be addressed why we have not advanced further.

How are we going to control the ownership of data? How will we enable encompassing cross-border data mobility and record sharing? How can we respond to the disparities in existing technological frameworks?

Attendees will be encouraged to discuss how policymakers, governing bodies, patient advocates and industry representatives can best work together to ensure citizens reap the benefits of a digital future, while preserving their privacy.

Can the European Health Union be real and tangible, grounded in solutions that have been proven to work?

We will discuss cancer as an inspirational case study on what successful collaboration across Europe can look like to tackle health challenges. If successfully implemented, the “Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan” with its Registry on Inequalities has the potential to demonstrate that the health inequalities challenge can be overcome.

Join us for this session: have your say on the beta version of the Cancer Pulse, intended to build upon and complement Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan’s Registry on Inequalities.

We will examine the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and invite your input on how innovation can be leveraged to address inequalities along the cancer care pathway and to tackle determinants of inequalities on the ground.

Climate change is a global challenge which will exacerbate social inequalities, reduce food and water security and increase the incidence of the transmission of pathogens. The ongoing trend of global climate change has introduced new pressures and significant consequences for human health. Urgent action is needed at the European and global level to minimise the ramifications of this threat and increase preparedness of health systems to deal with the ongoing changes in environmental stressors.

The session will discuss current needs and actions to estimate the scale and impact of the health risks resulting from the ongoing changes in environmental health determinants associated to climate change. How can current policy initiatives and research efforts at the European level provide the needed evidence, tools and frameworks to answer to the serious threat climate change poses to human health?

You are invited to join this session to reflect and discuss existing approaches and future opportunities to address the climate crisis.

Our increasingly globalised, commodified and centralised food systems have an enormous impact on health, environmental conditions, and social equity and rights in Europe and the rest of the world.

The urgency for a transition to sustainable – and health-promoting food systems is self-evident. There’s been substantial support and constructive engagement with the EU Farm to Fork Strategy’s agenda recently. However, a lot of work is still ahead in realising our joint commitment to sustainability, accompanied by a paradigm shift towards a public health-oriented food system.

The nature of our food systems affects what and how people consume, and conversely, people, by the choices they make and what they consume, can have a big impact on shaping these systems. This session will explore the role of (informed, empowered and literate) citizens in multi-governance efforts to transition to safer, healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems. This will be done by showcasing three examples of evidence-based policies and initiatives where consumers and citizens play a key role for this purpose.

Studies have shown that 10–20% of individuals who caught COVID-19 may experience continued symptoms for weeks to months or even years after their original infection, equating to millions of people worldwide. In fact recently published data just from the WHO European Region revealed that 17 million individuals experienced ongoing COVID-19 symptoms for at least three months during the first two years of the pandemic. This phenomenon, known as “Long COVID”, or "Post COVID-19 Condition", has been associated with a range of overlapping symptoms from fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pain, to muscle aches and cognitive dysfunction. The impact on the daily lives of sufferers can be immense - on their mental health, social life and their ability to perform their jobs. While it took considerable time for Long COVID to receive the attention it deserves, there lately seems to be momentum for more concrete action to minimise the economic, social and health consequences of this debilitating condition.

This "fireside chat" session will explore patient experiences of Long COVID, hear how different countries are handling and treating the condition, and give an insight into activities at the European level to raise awareness of Long COVID and drive forward research, treatment and rehabilitation services.

Can the use of gamification of digital tools and modeling lead to better policymaking? What are the ethical considerations around automation of policy making processes?

We are looking forward to debating such issues and presenting a case study. The “Let’s Control Flu” project – a partnership between the Catholic University of Portugal (scientific work and project management) and Sanofi (sponsoring) – is seeking to assess the effects of different public health policies in controlling the seasonal flu, utilising gamification to simulate the outcome of Vaccination Coverage Rates (VCR) using different compositions of public health policies. The project has already been applied to Sweden and will be rolled out to four other European countries.

This session will gather feedback from the audience and discuss the wider implications of modeling tools, in their utility and limitations, for the decision-making process on public health policies.

Long-standing shortages and unequal distribution in health workforce capacities, coupled with scarce resources for health services and unprecedented increases in personnel workloads have created conditions for an evoking European health workforce crisis.

As we embark on the journey towards a true European Health Union, it is essential to recognise the importance of the health workforce by placing their mental health first rather than last, addressing both root causes and consequences. What bold actions are needed to make progress possible?

This session draws on the perspectives of young professionals and calls for a new culture both within the health workforce but also within the community to tackle mental health. We will discuss how proper European-level action and local supporting mechanisms can be enforced towards a healthier health workforce, demonstrating solidarity as a core principle of a true European Health Union.

In this special episode of the The Gastein Conversations, Young Gasteiner Anca del Rio speaks with President of the European Health Forum Gastein, Clemens Martin Auer.  

In this week's episode of The Gastein Conversations, Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb speaker with former European Commission official, Walter Baer. 

This week's episode sees Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb speak with Sonja Wehsely, Executive Vice President at Siemens Healthineers and a recently appointed member of the EHFG Board. 

Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems at WHO Regional Office for Europe and a member of the EHFG Board, joins the latest episode of The Gastein Conversations. 

In this episode of The Gastein Conversations, Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb speaks with Head of the South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) Mira Jovanovski-Dasic.

Chairman of FIPRA, Robert Madelin, joins this weeks episode of the The Gastein Conversations. 

John Bowis, former UK Health Minister and EHFG Board member, joins the latest episode of The Gastein Conversations.

Olivia Biermann, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health, Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet and a member of the Young Forum Gastein network joins Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb for the latest episode of The Gastein Conversations. 

Josep Figueras, Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and a member of the European Health Forum Gastein board, joins Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb for the latest episode of The Gastein Conversations. 

Episode four of The Gastein Conversations sees Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb speak with former Director-General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) Paola Testori Coggi. 

In this weeks episode, Peter Brosch, former head of unit at the Austrian Ministry of Health joins Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb to recount the early days of the Forum. 

In the first episode of The Gastein Conversations, Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb, Secretary General of the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG) sits down to speak with EHFG Vice-President Ilona Kickbusch.