Skills for Health: Up- and re-skilling for a sustaibable recovery

Find the conference programme here. 

Find a report on the conference (in English) here.

The EuroHealthNet Annual Conference for 2020 focused on “Skills for Health: Up- and Re-Skilling for a Sustainable Recovery.”

The COVID-19 crisis 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 to the recovery. 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. After launching a Communication on a Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions, the European Commission has published its updated strategic approach for a new EU Skills Agenda, including an EU Pact for Skills. It aims to pursue a real paradigm shift in skills to take advantage of the green and digital transitions and support a prompt recovery from the COVID-19 crisis by:

• Ensuring social fairness, putting into practice the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights: access to education, training and lifelong learning for everybody, everywhere in the EU.
• Strengthening sustainable competitiveness, to achieve the European Green Deal and putting its digital and industrial strategies into practice
• Building up resilience to react to crises, based on the lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The public online conference was organised in anticipation of EuroHealthNet’s sustained work in and beyond 2021 on these themes, to contribute to the ongoing EU and (sub-)national debates, and to facilitate learning and exchange amongst our partnership, key stakeholders and decision-makers. The conference examined three aspects of skills for health, in order to answer the following questions:

1. Changes to the world of work: What do these changes mean for health and wellbeing?
2. The skills for good health and wellbeing: What skills are needed to live a healthy life?
3. 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?

Watch the conference here.