‘It was a sheer pleasure to keep up my mentoring engagements with young professionals’

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director of Country Health Policies and Systems Natasha Azzopardi Muscat attended the European Public Health (EPH) Conference in Berlin last week, where she had the opportunity to “keep up [her] mentoring engagements with young professionals.”

She described her participation at “Europe’s largest public health meeting” as “an incredible experience”, where she was “proud to represent WHO Regional Office for Europe”.

This event was a chance for Dr Azzopardi Muscat to meet young professionals within the sector and mentor them, something which she describes as “a sheer pleasure.”

The EPH Conference was held between 9th and 12th November in Berlin, and this year marked the event’s 15th anniversary. This year’s theme was “Strengthening health systems: improving population health and being prepared for the unexpected.”

At this year’s event Dr Azzopardi Muscat moderated the first plenary on financial protection, an issue she described as “key in these challenging economic circumstances.” She also contributed to the last technical plenary, where she spoke “about bridging the public health and clinical health workforce to address the complex public health challenges we face.”

She also explained that several topics were handled during this session, including “the health workforce and digitalisation, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine war and the deceleration in making progress towards the SDGs.”

“Finally, it was a great opportunity to connect with old friends and celebrate 25 years of public health practice,” Dr Azzopardi Muscat concluded.