2025 IANPHI Europe Regional Network Meeting
The 2025 IANPHI Europe Regional Network Meeting was held on October 8-9, 2025 in Oslo, Norway and hosted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI). This year, the main theme of the meeting was "Sanity, solidarity and security: For an active role of European NPHIs in times of uncertainty". The IANPHI Europe Annual Meeting is for NPHIs Directors (or their representatives) and IANPHI partners and guests only.
The event was held in-person to foster discussion at the NIPH (Lovisenberggata 8, 0456 Oslo).
Pictures
Visit our Flickr album to see the pictures of the event:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ianphi/albums/72177720329665104/
Program
This session introduced the meeting with welcome remarks from the host institute and the chairs of the IANPHI Europe Network. The Norwegian Deputy Minister of Health officially opened the meeting. It was an opportunity to listen to the last updates from the Network’s activities.
Moderator: Prof. Guri Rørtveit, Director General, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Opening remarks
Prof. Guri Rørtveit, Director General, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Formal opening of the meeting, and Keynote address on the global public health situation
Dr. Usman Ahmad Mushtaq, Deputy Minister of Health, Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services
Opening remarks
Antonis Lanaras, Head of Section Governance and International Relations at ECDC on behalf of Dr. Pamela Rendi-Wagner, Director, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe (video message)
Prof. Duncan Selbie, President, IANPHI (video message)
IANPHI Europe Network Updates and Welcome
PresentationClaudia Habl, Chair of IANPHI Europe Regional Network, COO GÖG, Austria
Olga Gvozdetska, Vice-Chair of IANPHI Europe Regional Network, Deputy Director, Ukraine PHC
Prof. Neil Squires, Secretary General, IANPHI
Watch the recordingThe World is experiencing growing health challenges and there have been large and abrupt changes in policies and financing of global health and development. There have also been shifts in public perception on health, often fuelled by mis- and dis-information. These changes impact public health, health security, global solidarity, and trust in scientific knowledge. NPHIs have a central role to play in understanding this changing context and in analysing and generating evidence to inform policies that can help build resilience, support prevention, mitigate impact and strengthen response capability. This session presented a situation analysis and then had a panel discussion with the floor.
Moderator: Prof. Neil Squires, IANPHI Secretary General
Introduction
Session context and objectives
Prof. Neil Squires, IANPHI Secretary General
Navigating the changing global landscape:
Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC Director and NYC Health Commissioner, President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives (video message based on his book The Formula for Better Health)
Disruptions to global health security and the changing role of NPHIs
Catherine Smallwood, WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, Health Emergencies Programme, WHO
Presentation of Catherine Smallwood
Navigating Disruptions to Global Health Security in Europe: Examples of Collaboration and the Role of NPHIs
Tanja Schmidt, Programme Manager, Health Security Division, WHO EURO
The changing funding landscape - a researcher's perspective
Dr. Ornella Punzo, Senior Researcher, Ecosystems and Health Unit, Department of Environment and Health, Italian National Health Institute
Solutions and opportunities - European global engagement to strengthen NPHIs: Team Europe Initiative in Africa
Eva Johansson, Senior Administrative Officer, European Commission
Panel discussion with the floor: What more can Europe and European NPHIs do to change and shape the global dialogue?
Moderator: Prof. Neil Squires, IANPHI, Secretary General
European countries and the EU are systematically improving their preparedness against pandemics and other health crises. Three key areas are 1. Communicable disease preparedness, surveillance, scientific information and advice, 2. Research preparedness for health crises, and 3. Preparedness for Medical Countermeasures (MCM). These topics were presented and then discussed in groups to determine the role of NPHIs in preparedness for future health crises in a European context.
Moderator: Dr. Bjørn G. Iversen, Specialty Director, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Setting the stage: The role of NPHIs and IANPHI to be better prepared for the next health crisis
Dr. Bjørn G. Iversen, Specialty Director, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Communicable disease preparedness, surveillance, and science-based recommendations
Thomas Hofmann, Head of Section Emergency Preparedness and Response, Surveillance, Preparedness and Response Unit (SPR), ECDC
Presentation of Thomas Hofmann
Research preparedness for health crises: European trans-national collaborations and the role of NPHIs
Dr. Bjørn G. Iversen, Specialty Director, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI)
Preparedness for Medical Countermeasures (MCM)
Wolfgang Philipp, Principal Adviser, Chief Science Officer, DG HERA
Presentation of Wolfgang Philipp
The NPHIs work to strengthen their preparedness before the next health crisis: The Dutch experience with the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Assessment (PHEPA) and the Joint External Evaluation (JEE)
Carolien Jaspers, Coordinator International Affairs, RIVM (Netherlands NIPH) on behalf of Prof. Menno de Jong, Director for Infectious Disease Control, RIVM (Netherlands NPHI)
Roundtable discussions and reporting back in plenary
Moderator: Dr. Bjørn G. Iversen
Group Facilitators: Identified from the roundtable discussions
IANPHI approved the Code of Practice for National Public Health Institutes at its Annual General Meeting in 2024. Scientific independence for NPHIs is essential for their knowledge and advice to be trusted. NPHIs are developing ethical standards for their work. The aim of this session is to present some of the core ethical standards relevant for NPHIs and discuss how they best can be utilized by the NPHIs and how we can increase the public’s awareness of NPHI commitment to protect truth from the threat of mis- and dis-information, through the use of evidence and building trusted institutions.
Moderator: Jean-Claude Desenclos, IANPHI Strategic Advisor, Santé publique France
The new global context: a public health and ethical perspective
Prof. Kjell Arne Johansson, Professor of medical ethics and the philosophy of science at Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS) at the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen.
Presentation of Kjell Arne Johansson
Implementation of the code of practice (challenges, benefits, scientific independence focused)
Dr. Bjørn Iversen, Specialty Director, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI)
Public health ethics
Experience of Santé publique France (French NPHI)
Anne-Catherine Viso, Director, International and Scientific Department, Santé publique France
Presentation of Anne-Catherine Viso
Experience of the Quebec National Institute of Public Health
Michel Desy, Ethics expert, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (Quebec NPHI) (video)
Q&A session and discussion
Moderator: Jean-Claude Desenclos, IANPHI Strategic Advisor, Santé publique France
Project overview and key findings, from review of international literature and introduction to Phase 2 of the project (methodological approaches to identify best practice-based international evidence)
Dr. Mary Jo Lavelle, Discipline for Health Promotion, Health Promotion Research Centre, University of Galway, Ireland
Dr. Tom Fowler, Deputy National Director, Health Protection and Screening Services, Public Health Wales, Wales
European NPHIs are actively engaged in working groups and in projects and project development through IANPHI and with collaborating partners in public health. This session aims to provide information on some of this work and to foster discussion on how NPHIs can engage more with each other and in public health activities in the region.
Moderators: Claudia Habl and Olga Gvozdetska, Chair resp. and Vice-Chair of the IANPHI Europe Network
Global IANPHI survey on NPHIs and its implications for collaboration between European NPHIs
Results with a focus on European NPHIs
Katharina Habimana, Senior health expert, GÖG, Austria
Presentation of Katharina Habimana
Discussion: Comments/Inputs by NPHIs on results
Prof. Milena Vasic, Head of Department for Scientific Research and Project Coordination, Institute of Public Health of Serbia
Prof. Maria Rosario Fraga Oliveira Martins, Deputy Director, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Portugal
Prof. Guri Rørtveit, Director General, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) Carolien Jaspers, Coordinator International Affairs, RIVM, Netherlands
How to implement the Essential Public Health Functions Framework in a European environment?
The new IANPHI Framework: A tool to support NPHIs' European partnerships along the Essential Public Health Functions
Dr. Angela Fehr, IANPHI Director of Programmes and Partnerships
Discussion with NPHIs on the implementation
Moderator: Claudia Habl and Olga Gvozdetska
How to increase interactions with partners?
Moderator: Anne-Catherine Viso, Director, International and Scientific Department, Santé publique France
Panelists:
Prof. Henrique Barros, President, Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region
Presentation of Henrique Barros
Dr. Danko Relic, Executive Director, Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation
Caroline Costongs, Director, EuroHealthNet
Presentation of Caroline Costongs
Katharina Habimana, Senior health expert, GÖG, Austria
This session concluded the meeting and provided a short summary of everything that was discussed during the previous 1.5 days, what are the steps forward and important agreements.
Moderator: Prof. Guri Rørtveit, Director General, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Conclusion speech from the host
Prof. Guri Rørtveit, Director General, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Conclusion speech from the Chair and Vice-Chair of the IANPHI Europe Network
Claudi Habl and Olga Gvozdetska
Speech from the next host (2026 Wales)
Dr. Tracey Cooper, Chief Executive, Public Health Wales