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19.06.2026
Investing in prevention: a conversation on why the next EU budget matters for health
JA PreventNCD has published a position paper calling for stronger EU investment in health promotion, non-communicable disease prevention and health equity in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. The Multiannual Financial Framework, often referred to as the MFF, is the European Union’s long-term budget. It shapes what the EU can invest in over several years and sets important signals for future priorities. For public health, this matters because long-term investment decisions can influence whether prevention, health promotion and equity are supported in practice. To explain the context behind the publication, we spoke with Prof. Knut-Inge Klepp, Scientific Coordinator of JA PreventNCD; Caroline Costongs, Director of EuroHealthNet; and Dr. Mojca Gabrijelčič, Senior Adviser at the National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia and leader of the sustainability work in JA PreventNCD. Together, they explain why this is an important moment to speak up for prevention, why EU funding matters for health equity, and what is needed to make prevention more sustainable across Europe.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/interviews/investing-in-prevention-a-conversation-on-why-the-next-eu-budget-matters-for-health/
29.05.2026
Coordinating Efforts for Healthier Living Environments in Pula, Croatia
Between 26 and 28 May, multidisciplinary and cross-sector teams working on the transformation of Healthy Living Environments across Europe travelled to Croatia to pool their efforts and share their insights in the fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The JA PreventNCD Healthy Living Environments annual meeting, held in Pula, Croatia, and organised by the Croatian Institute of Public Health (CIPH), opened with a clear and inspiring message: preventing cancer and other non-communicable diseases requires healthier environments, stronger policy action, and a shared commitment to making prevention part of everyday life. Over three days, participants discussed policies, interventions and research initiatives aimed at creating healthier places to live, learn, work and play. Through plenary sessions, thematic discussions and collaborative workshops, the meeting provided an opportunity to strengthen cooperation and advance a shared European agenda for prevention.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/news-updates/coordinating-efforts-for-healthier-living-environments-in-pula-croatia/
29.05.2026
New campaign to make prevention clearer and more accessible
JA PreventNCD is preparing to launch a new campaign aimed at policymakers, professionals, communities and the wider public, helping more people understand what prevention is about and why healthier choices must be made easier, fairer and more accessible for everyone. The campaign will be presented during the JA PreventNCD General Assembly in Rome, taking place from 9–11 June 2026 at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The General Assembly will bring partners together to share project achievements, reflect on progress and discuss the way forward for strengthening prevention across Europe. The launch session, “Campaigns as a Strategic Tool in Today’s Attention Economy: Premiere of JA PreventNCD’s New Campaign,” will be presented by Live Bøe Johannesen from the Norwegian Directorate of Health. The campaign focuses on four major shared risk factors for cancer and other non-communicable diseases: alcohol, tobacco and nicotine, nutrition and physical activity. It uses clear, accessible and motivating messages to show how prevention is connected to everyday life, from what people eat and how active they are to the environments, products, policies and communities that shape health. To learn more about the thinking behind the campaign, we spoke with Thea Nørgaard Breili from the Norwegian Directorate of Health, project leader of the campaign, about its aims, messages and development process. Can you briefly introduce the new JA PreventNCD campaign and explain what it aims to achieve? "The campaign aims to put prevention of NCDs on the agenda for both stakeholders, policymakers and general public. We aim to increase awareness of the benefits of prevention, highlight accessible measures that can be implemented, and strengthen public support for potential interventions. Non-communicable diseases are often discussed using specialised public health terminology, but many of the risk factors are closely connected to everyday life. What people eat, how active they are, whether tobacco, nicotine or alcohol products are widely available, and how communities are planned all influence health. The campaign shows that prevention is not only about telling individuals to change their behaviour. It is also about creating healthier environments through policy, regulation, planning, services and community action." What are the campaign’s key messages? "The key message shared across the campaign is that through small changes, whether structural or personal, we can all contribute to better health, both in the short and long term. This applies to stakeholders, policymakers and the general public. The campaign shows that everyone has a role to play, from those shaping policies and environments to individuals and communities taking practical steps in everyday life." The campaign was developed in close collaboration with participating member countries. How did that collaboration shape the final concept and messaging? "The collaboration helped us see prevention from many different perspectives. JA PreventNCD brings together partners from across Europe, and that diversity has been important in shaping a campaign that can appeal to a broader audience. At the same time, the collaboration pushed us to define and prioritise a shared direction that all partners could support and work towards together. Through this process, we identified a set of unifying and important messages that strengthen both the collaboration and the overall communication of the project." How did you balance the need for a shared European campaign with different national contexts, languages and public health priorities? "JA PreventNCD has chosen to focus on four shared risk factors: alcohol, tobacco and nicotine, nutrition and physical activity. This gives us a common starting point that all partners can recognise and build from. Based on this, and in close cooperation with the thematic coordinators, we developed simple and important messages that are aligned with research and evidence, while still being easy to understand and motivating for the audience. Creating messages that are relevant across different countries and public health priorities can be challenging. But this process helped us lift our gaze and focus on the overarching messages that apply across contexts. To make the material more inclusive, we included different ethnicities, personalities and characters while keeping one clear storyline. The animated world also gives us more freedom in how we show the setting. It does not have to be one specific real place, or it could be anywhere. The film includes elements such as a city, suburban areas, trees, roads, parks and houses, with the idea that it should not be too clear whether we are in Northern or Southern Europe."
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/interviews/new-campaign-to-make-prevention-clearer-and-more-accessible/
29.05.2026
Unmasking the appeal of tobacco and nicotine products: JA PreventNCD and JA-SAFE in conversation on World No Tobacco Day
World No Tobacco Day is marked every year on 31 May. In 2026, the World Health Organization’s theme is “Unmasking the appeal: countering nicotine and tobacco addiction.” The campaign focuses on how tobacco and nicotine products continue to be reinvented, repackaged and marketed in ways that appeal to new generations, particularly children and adolescents. Tobacco remains one of the most important preventable causes of disease and premature death in Europe. At the same time, public health efforts are facing a changing landscape, with new nicotine products, cross-border trade, digital marketing, industry influence and regulatory gaps creating new challenges for tobacco and nicotine control. This remains a major priority for public health in Europe and for the European Commission’s wider prevention agenda. It is also reflected in two EU co-funded Joint Actions: JA PreventNCD, which addresses tobacco as a key cross-cutting theme in the prevention of cancer and other non-communicable diseases, and JA-SAFE, which focuses specifically on health promotion and disease prevention, including smoke- and aerosol-free environments. To mark World No Tobacco Day, we spoke with Hanna Ollila, Cross-cutting Theme Coordinator for Tobacco in JA PreventNCD; Taija Voutilainen, who leads JA PreventNCD work on alcohol- and tobacco-related perspectives in all policies; and Constantine Vardavas, Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Coordinator of JA-SAFE and Head of the Technical Group of Chemical and Sensory Assessors for Tobacco Product Flavours of the European Commission, about the current state of tobacco and nicotine control in Europe, the challenges ahead, and why international collaboration is essential. While the two Joint Actions have distinct roles, they are closely connected by a shared prevention agenda. JA-SAFE supports European action on smoke-free and aerosol-free environments, tobacco reduction, cessation, steps towards a tobacco-free generation, and wider health promotion and disease prevention. JA PreventNCD complements this work by addressing tobacco as part of a broader prevention agenda, recognising its role in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases, while also working to reduce inequalities and strengthen action on the wider conditions that shape people’s health.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/interviews/unmasking-the-appeal-of-tobacco-and-nicotine-products-ja-preventncd-and-ja-safe-in-conversation-on-world-no-tobacco-day/
20.05.2026
Putting Europe in motion
This article will be included in the Healthy Living Environment Newsletter. You can subscribe here to stay updated. Across Europe, a growing movement is redefining how physical activity is understood in public health. No longer seen simply as an individual lifestyle choice, movement is increasingly being approached as a collective, environmental and lifelong issue –shaped by schools, neighbourhoods, workplaces, families and local communities. Within the European Joint Action JA PreventNCD, innovative pilot actions that aim to make active living more accessible, inclusive and sustainable across all stages of life are being developed. From digital tools helping adolescents discover enjoyable forms of movement, to community walking initiatives for older adults, workplace challenges promoting team-based activity and local platforms connecting citizens with healthy opportunities in their area, the initiative reflects a shared European ambition: embedding movement into everyday life. Between 2010 and 2022, around 25% of the population in the WHO European Region was insufficiently active. Prevalence varies widely between countries, ranging from 8.4% to 51.6%, reflecting strong territorial and social inequalities in access to opportunities for physical activity. While progress has been uneven, 17 countries - mostly within the EU14 - have already achieved early the target of a 15% reduction in inactivity by 2030.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/news-updates/putting-europe-in-motion/
04.05.2026
Health in All Policies: aligning decisions across society with public health
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 is taking place this week, with this year’s overarching theme focusing on investing for sustainable health and well-being. The week opened with a daily theme that is highly relevant to JA PreventNCD: aligning all policies with public health. This theme is closely connected to one of the central ideas behind JA PreventNCD: preventing major chronic diseases requires action far beyond the healthcare system. Many of Europe’s greatest health challenges, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and mental health conditions, are often referred to as non-communicable diseases, or NCDs. Unlike infectious diseases, they are not passed directly from person to person, but they are strongly shaped by the environments people live in and the conditions that influence everyday choices. The food available to people, the way cities are planned, opportunities for physical activity, working conditions, education, housing, transport, environmental quality and social support all affect health and well-being. This idea is at the heart of Health in All Policies, which is an important part of JA PreventNCD’s work. Following the recent Wellbeing Economy Forum in Reykjavík, where participants explored how societies can redefine success around health, well-being and sustainability, the theme feels especially timely. To mark European Public Health Week, we spoke with Katri Sääksjärvi, from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), who leads the Health in All Policies work in JA PreventNCD, about why this approach matters and how it can support stronger prevention across Europe.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/news-updates/health-in-all-policies-aligning-decisions-across-society-with-public-health/
29.04.2026
Health-Friendly Companies
This editorial is featured in the Healthy Living Environment Newsletter #2. You can subscribe here to stay updated. Cancer and other chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a significant part of the disease burden in Europe, much of which is preventable. The Joint Action to Prevent Non-communicable Diseases (JA PreventNCD) is designed to address this challenge by supporting strategies and policies aimed at reducing the burden of cancer and NCDs, focusing on personal and social risk factors. The task for “Increasing availability of healthy products” mobilize actions on the determinants of health through the political commitment by intersectoral policies and the participation of the community at local level; promoting social cohesion to co-create actions for healthy living environments with equity perspective. The workplace, where people spend a large part of their time and their entire lives, is precisely the area where personal and environmental factors related to health habits either confront or positively combine. This clash of personal habits and health conditions in the work environment can have a synergistic effect on the individual in both a good and a bad direction. However, the fact is that it is easier to spoil the good habits of an individual if there are no supporting conditions, than to expect that all healthy habits will survive and that the individual will positively influence the problematic work environment and change it for the better. Therefore, the intervention of society (workplace, employer, local or national government) is indispensable for positive developments in preserving the health of the individual and society as a whole. The specific objectives we are focused on are: to implement workplace policies that will contribute to the workers opting for the healthier choice, reduce health inequalities, reduce the availability of alcohol and smoking and encourage physical activity and a socially acceptable work environment.
https://www.preventncd.eu/newsroom/editorials/health-friendly-companies/