EuroHealthNet Conference 2020 – Skills for health: Up – and re- skilling for a sustainable recovery
The theme of the 2020 EuroHealthNet Conference was Skills for Health. The event took place online on Thursday, 3rd December 9:30 – 12:45 and was free to attend. It was held in English with German translations.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit Europe during a period of significant transitions, including technological and digital, environmental, economic, demographic and social change. ‘Building back better’ from the crisis will require new and more equitable approaches to these other challenges, as well.
A focus on skills will be key. As we learned from the 2008 global financial crisis, developing new, better and more widely available skills promotes and protects health. Building on existing EU and (sub-)national initiatives, such as the EU Skills Agenda, we can help people improve their (digital) health literacy, life skills and education and training for the 21st century.
The conference will examine three aspects of skills for health, and attempt to answer the following questions:
- Changes to the world of work
- What do these changes mean for health and wellbeing?
- The skills for good health and wellbeing
- What skills are needed to live a healthy life?
- The skills for tomorrow’s health and care systems
- As the roles of health and care professionals continue to evolve, what skills are needed in the modern health and social care sectors?
Agenda and presentations
Welcome
- Dr. Mojca Gabrijelčič Blenkuš, EuroHealthNet President
- Prof. Martin Dietrich, Deputy Director, German Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA)
Keynote remarks
- Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights
- Teresa Ribera, Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Spain
- Dr. Nino Berdzuli, Director of the Division of Country Health Programmes, WHO Europe
Session 1: Changes to the world of work
- How is work changing, and what does it mean for health?
Maria Jepsen, Deputy Director, Eurofound - How are these changes affecting work-life balance, and gender and generational divides?
Elizabeth Gosme, Director, COFACE – Families Europe - What can be done to help workers adapt?
Prof. Philippe Pochet, General Director, European Trade Union Institute
Session 2: The skills for good health and wellbeing
- How does health literacy connect to broader ‘skills for life’? How we can encourage the development of skills for life?Kristine Sørensen, Founder of the Global Health Literacy Academy
- How can eHealth be made more accessible to people with low health literacy?
Bart Looman, Programme Manager, PHAROS, Dutch Centre of Expertise on Health Disparities - How can schools promote health literacy for 21st century in a holistic way?
Prof. Dr. Kevin Dadaczynski, Professor of Health Communication and Patient Information, University of Applied Sciences Fulda
Session 3: The skills for tomorrow’s health and care systems.
- What skills are needed and how should tasks change to make health care more community-based and health promoting?
Jan de Maeseneer, Chair of the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health and Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Ghent University - What skills are needed in public health and health promotion?
Prof. Katarzyna Czabanowska, Associate professor at the International Health Department, Maastricht University, and Past President of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) - What is the future for social prescribing?
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Herrmann, Professor of General Practice, Institute of General Practice, Charité – Berlin University of Medicine
Concluding remarks
- Katarina Ivanković-Knežević, Director for Social Affairs, Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), European Commission
- Caroline Costongs, Director, EuroHealthNet
Find the conference report here.
