The 1st edition of the European School on Health Information has come to an end. This course involved participants from 20 European countries and speakers from 16 Public Health Institutes, different universities and research centers, as well as from supranational entities such as Eurostat or WHO Europe.

The initiative was centered on strategies for the effective implementation of the European health survey, from the collection of data to its use to design health policies and the translation of knowledge, very important in COVID-19 times. The preparation and coordination of the work was guaranteed by a team from IHMT (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), DGS (Ministry of Health) and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

On behalf of the organization, Luís Lapão, professor at IHMT, highlights the interest and commitment of the participants in the 25 theoretical and practical sessions, which took place online, underlining the added value of the work carried out around fundamental themes for the future of public health in Europe , such as health information systems, the analysis and interpretation of data and their use in the definition of policies and clinical activity, the interoperability of systems and records and ethical aspects associated with the collection, treatment, use and protection of data, namely the challenges posed by the GDPR.

In the closing session, the participants evaluated the initiative very positively, pointing out the relevance of the themes, the possibility of establishing a close dialogue between professionals from different countries, sharing experiences and strengthening networks with specialists in Public Health, academics and researchers from different sectors. generations and institutional affiliations.

The great success of the course motivates the organization to prepare a 2nd edition next year.