Building trust through sustainable public health action

This article is part of a special series for European Public Health Week, highlighting how JA PreventNCD contributes to each of this year’s daily themes and supports stronger prevention across Europe.

European Public Health Week continues today with the theme “Protecting public health and democracy: tackling disinformation, strengthening accountability, and building trust.” The theme highlights a central challenge for public health: people are more likely to trust and act on public health knowledge when decisions are transparent, evidence-informed, accountable and connected to the realities of communities.

In an information environment shaped by misinformation, polarisation and declining trust in institutions, protecting public health is not only about producing evidence. It is also about how evidence is communicated, how decisions are made, who is involved, and whether effective policies and practices can be sustained over time.

This is where the sustainability work in JA PreventNCD has an important role. By supporting the long-term uptake of project results, strengthening links between evidence, policy and practice, and promoting social participation, this work contributes to more transparent, accountable and trusted public health action across Europe.

At the heart of JA PreventNCD’s sustainability work is the recognition that project results should not end when the project lifecycle ends. Policies, practices, tools and lessons learned need to be embedded in systems that can support their continued use, adaptation and improvement.

The Sustainability Plan developed within JA PreventNCD provides a structured approach to this work. It supports the identification, organisation and long-term uptake of project results, helping ensure that relevant policies and practices can continue to evolve within national and European systems.

This is more than just a technical process. When public health actions are clearly grounded in evidence, aligned with existing governance structures and supported by long-term planning, they become more understandable, more consistent and more credible.

The plan has been developed as a collaborative process and is reassessed as the needs of JA PreventNCD and the wider societal context evolve. This flexibility is important in a public health landscape shaped by complex and changing challenges.

A key part of the sustainability work is helping ensure that knowledge generated through JA PreventNCD does not remain isolated within the project. Instead, the aim is to support the translation of evidence, policies and practices into actions that can be used, adapted and sustained in different contexts.

This includes the systematic collection and analysis of policies and practices emerging from JA PreventNCD activities, while linking them to European and national priorities in participating countries. In this way, the sustainability work helps connect project outputs with existing policy needs and governance processes. With this, JA PreventNCD contibutes to a public health environment where information can be shared, assessed and used more effectively.

Protecting public health and democracy also requires meaningful engagement with the people and communities affected by public health decisions. Policies are more likely to be relevant, equitable and trusted when they reflect the realities of those they are designed to support.

For this reason, social participation is an important principle in JA PreventNCD’s sustainability work. It recognises that public health action should not only be designed for people, but also informed by their experiences, perspectives and needs.

JA PreventNCD has taken an important step in this direction by establishing a Youth Advisory Group, ensuring that younger generations are involved in shaping public health approaches. This strengthens the inclusion of youth perspectives in the project and supports more responsive and future-oriented public health action.

The wider sustainability work also promotes the inclusion of diverse perspectives, including those of underrepresented groups and people with lived experience. This helps ensure that public health policies and practices are not only evidence-informed, but also grounded in real-life contexts.

Trust also depends on accountability. Public health decisions need to be transparent, and actions need to be followed up, evaluated and improved over time.

The Sustainability Team supports this by linking project outputs to national and European policy priorities, including relevant monitoring and coordination mechanisms. This helps clarify how project results can contribute to broader public health goals and how they can be followed up beyond the project itself.

An important part of this work is the need of constant refinement. Policies and practices should not be treated as fixed once they are developed. They need to be adjusted based on evidence, implementation experience and changing needs.

This approach supports transparency by helping show how and why decisions are made, how actions are assessed, and how learning is used to improve future work. Regular alignment with representatives of Member States’ Competent Authorities also supports coordination and helps ensure that sustainability planning remains connected to national realities and priorities.

Today’s European Public Health Week theme reminds us that public health depends on more than scientific knowledge alone. It also depends on trust, accountability, participation and the ability to turn evidence into action that lasts.

Through its sustainability work, JA PreventNCD supports a vision of public health that is effective, transparent and rooted in current societal needs. It promotes a policy environment where decisions are informed by evidence, communities are engaged, and public health actions can be adapted and sustained over time.

As Europe continues to face complex health challenges, including the burden of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases, building trust and accountability into public health systems is essential. JA PreventNCD’s sustainability work contributes to this goal by helping ensure that the project’s results can continue to support stronger prevention, better governance and healthier communities across Europe.