Health In Europe
Episodes
NCDs, AMR, and Policy Crossroads
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What insights and lessons learned from the UN High Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistence last September can inform preparations for the upcoming U...
NCDs and the triple planetary crisis
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How can we address the intersecting challenges of climate change and non-communicable diseases at once? In this first episode of the Intersections in...
Medevac
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Crisis and conflict dominate the headlines. The ongoing war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory have b...
Celebrating Women in Science
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stories of strength and dedication to mark International Women’s DayFor International Women’s Day, we celebrate the achievements of three remarkab...
How To Talk to Children About Suicide
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
 When we hear the word suicide, many of us instinctively recoil. The word is taboo in everyday life. For family members who have lost somebody to s...
Learning lessons from the last pandemic
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this turbulent world, it’s tempting to move on and forget the difficult days of COVID-19. Although the impact of the COVID pandemic is far-reachi...
Dengue
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In tropical and subtropical countries, the virus causing dengue is spiking. Close to an historic high of over 6 million cases and more than 7,000 deng...
Influenza past, present and future
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The first of the three influenza pandemics that occurred in the 20th century is estimated to have killed over 50 million people. Based on scientific...
Mpox
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 2022 mpox outbreak has taught public health authorities a lot about the value of working with communities on important areas like testing, vaccina...
H5N1 - The Bird Flu
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we are putting a special focus on the H5N1 bird flu. We explore the ongoing efforts to prepare for future pandemics by speaking with ...
The Journey of a Student Nurse
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We turn our attention to the world of nursing through the compelling lens of Stefanie Fernandes and Francisco Ferraz. Francisco, a passionate third-ye...
Disease X
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What are we doing to prepare for the next pandemic?We go behind the scenes at WHO and some of the European region’s major public health institutions...
EPI at 50: Unpacking the Past, Present, and Future of Global Immunization
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the WHO's Expanded Programme on Immunization, now known as the Essential Programme on Immunization, or ...
Outbreak Alert: Understanding the Measles Surge
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There is an alarming resurgence of measles. In the WHO European Region, a startling uptick has been observed, with now over 50,000 cases reported acro...
Resilience Redefined: Advocating for inclusive healthcare
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest 'Health in Europe' podcast, we explore Jack Kavanagh's transformation from a sports enthusiast to a disability rights adv...
Art Meets Health: Unveiling the healing power of creativity in combatting NCDs
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We explore the transformative synergy of art and health, and how art can positively help tackle noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – from cardiovascula...
Managing airborne diseases in prison
23 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered what it's truly like to be in prison? As we reflect on the unprecedented challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic...
The Fourth Dimension: What we talk about when we talk about quality of care
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals act as a vital catalyst, urging countries worldwide to strive for Universal Health Coverage. This encompass...
The danger of childhood obesity: how can we bring it down?
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One in three school-aged children in the WHO European Region are living with overweight or obesity, and countries are working hard to break and revers...
Can vaccines prevent cancer?
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode of Health in Europe focuses on a very important question – can vaccines prevent cancer? We know that cancer is a complicated and elusiv...
Mind Over Matter: The Influence of Behavioral and Cultural Factors on Health Outcomes
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Behavioral and cultural insights utilize social sciences to tackle ongoing health issues - from vaccine uptake to antimicrobial resistance to obesity ...
Training surgeons in hostile environments
26 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we hear from Dr Moez Zeiton – a trauma surgeon who’s worked with WHO in Iraq and now is a trainer with the David Nott Foundation, ...
Are young people really the ‘problematic’ drinkers in the WHO European Region?
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alcohol harms everyone and there is no safe limit to alcohol consumption when it comes to health. A new episode of the ‘Health in Europe’ podcast ...
Eliminating cervical cancer
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More than 30,000 women die from cervical cancer in the WHO European Region every year. But cervical cancer is a preventable disease and elimination of...
What do we mean by quality of care?
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Quality of care is an important part of any health system. In this episode, we speak with Dimitra Panteli, of the European Observatory on Health Syste...
Managing mass casualty incidents
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, WHO/Europe’s Press and Media Relations Officer, Bhanu Bhatnagar, speaks with Professor Johan von Schreeb about his experience deali...
Launch of the 2022 European Obesity Report
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Not a single country in the WHO European Region is on track to stop the rise in obesity by 2025 – that’s according to the 2022 European Obesity Re...
An outbreak of polio is declared over
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As we mark European Immunization Week – WHO confirms that a polio outbreak in Tajikistan has ended following a comprehensive response. We speak with...
Training the next generation of laboratory leaders
22 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Labs form an often unseen yet crucial part of any health system. In this episode we find out more about the role of laboratories in health, their day-...
Looking back on the Economics of Ageing
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You may remember a couple of weeks ago we spoke about the Economics of Ageing webinar series. In this episode, we speak with Dr Jon Cylus of the Europ...
Caring for children with cancer
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we speak about a new report from WHO/Europe on inequities in treatment for childhood cancer in the Region and hear from Aron Anderson,...
Screening for cancer – not an easy solution
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Screening for diseases like cancer may seem a simple solution to catch the disease before it becomes serious. But in this episode we find out how comp...
Marking two years of COVID-19
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this week marked two years since the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the WHO European Region. In this episode we speak with a frontli...
The Economics of Ageing
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Population ageing is often seen as bad for the economy and unsustainable for health systems. But is this really the case? Debora Miranda, Communicatio...
What’s the latest on Omicron?
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we speak with Dr Catherine Smallwood, WHO/Europe’s COVID-19 incident manager, to get the latest on the Omicron variant which continu...
#Digital4NCD: Digital solutions for health
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first episode in a mini-series of podcasts created for the Digital Solutions for Noncommunicable Diseases Conference in Moscow discusses how digit...
Ensuring the health and well-being of people in prison
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we hear from health workers and NGOs about what steps can be taken to provide healthcare to people in prison, leaving no-one behind in...
The voices of health workers
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we speak with three young health care workers from across the Region about the challenges they’ve faced during COVID-19 and their h...
Building fairer, healthier societies: part two
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we speak with representatives of health authorities in Slovenia and with "Nobody Left Outside" - a collective of organizati...
Building fairer, healthier societies part one: an interview with Public Health Wales
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we speak with Dr Tracey Cooper, Chief Executive of Public Health Wales and Christine Brown of WHO European Office for Investment for H...
Flutopia: Part Three
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this third and final episode, we’re building flutopia – exploring different ways that health authorities work to increase flu vaccination rates...
Flutopia: Part Two
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In part one of flutopia, we explored why the annual flu vaccine is so important. In the second episode of this three-part series we speak with Dr Rich...
Flutopia: Part One
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Each year people are encouraged to get a flu vaccine to protect them from seasonal influenza. But why do we need a flu vaccine? Find out in the first ...
Migrant health: working to leave no-one behind
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we speak with Dr Alex Schneider of Life4me+, a charity that worked with WHO to ensure access to healthcare and treatment among migran...
Schooling during COVID-19
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The education of children and young people around the world has been deeply affected by COVID-19. The closing of schools in response to the pandemic h...
The fight to eradicate polio
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this year, wild polio was declared eradicated from Africa. This fantastic achievement brought humanity one step closer to globally eradicati...
United Action For Better Health
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this week, Member States endorsed the European Programme of Work at WHO/Europe’s 70th Regional Committee. Linking to the three key prioritie...
Transforming health care with digital health
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Digital health offers solutions that offer the potential to strengthen health systems, but it also raises a number of important questions. In this epi...
Realizing the potential of immunization
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Immunization has played a crucial role in reducing mortality and the unnecessary suffering of people as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases acros...
Establishing a mental health coalition
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mental health is an important part of personal health. It’s estimated that millions of people in the WHO European Region are living with mental heal...
Tailoring Health with Behavioural and Cultural Insights
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Behavioural and Cultural Insights draw on a range of fields to understand the different drivers and barriers to health. In this, the first of four epi...
Building a hepatitis free future
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We speak with Patrick Hoffmann, a former nurse at a prison in Luxembourg who worked with colleagues to improve testing and treatment for a range of di...
Saving lives, preventing trauma
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
500,000 people are killed in the WHO/European Region as a result of violence and injury each year. That means approximately one person every minute lo...
What's in the bottle?
23 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Would you buy or consume a product without knowing what's in it? What about one that's known to cause a range of diseases including cancer...