A Bodossaki Foundation initiative, with the contribution of the World Health Organisation, Greece, and the strategic partners: the National Hellenic Research Foundation, the Hellenic Pasteur Institute and the Athens Medical Society.
With its focus firmly on the challenges and priorities facing Public Health today, the Bodossaki Foundation announces the creation of an Observatory for Public Health Policy and Organisation with the contribution of the World Health Organisation Greece and three strategic partners: the National Hellenic Research Foundation, the Hellenic Pasteur Institute, and the Athens Medical Society.
The Observatory aspires to be an open and inclusive platform for dialogue and innovation that will bring together scientists, politicians, health professionals and civil society in order to facilitate, within the scope of its capabilities, the adoption and promotion of effective integrated solutions for a fair, resilient and up-to-date Public Health system in Greece.
The Observatory’s goals are to raise awareness of current Public Health approaches and strategies, and to promote consensus and education with regard to both in Greece. It adopts a systematic, interdisciplinary approach to tackling major public health challenges including chronic diseases and the impacts of the climate crisis, preventing and shielding against new epidemics, safeguarding children’s health, ensuring good health and quality of life in old age, and creating conditions to strengthen mental health, while prioritising the reduction of health inequalities.
A Bodossaki Foundation initiative underpinned by the values of equality, sustainability and resilience, the Observatory prioritises broad partnerships with competent bodies, in the recognition that the protection and promotion of health, the prevention of disease, and the effective management of public health crises require evidence-based policies, inter-sectoral cooperation at every level of governance, and meaningful organisational reform.
The Observatory for Public Health Policy and Organisation succeeds from the “Action Plan for Public Health in the 21st Century” presented by the Bodossaki Foundation in 2022. The Action Plan analysed the building blocks of a modern Public Health system and proposed interventions relating to Public Health functions. As a next step, and based on the thematic priority areas it has set, the Observatory will address the full range of public health functions. These include an assessment of the population’s health needs; the promotion of health, along with protection and prevention; crisis management; and issues pertaining to leadership, organisation, governance, staffing and resource management.
The Observatory is supported pro bono by a 20-member Scientific Committee made up of distinguished experts from Greece and abroad from the interdisciplinary, academic and professional fields of Public Health. The Observatory’s five-member Steering Committee is responsible for managing its work. It consists of the following members of the Scientific Committee:
- Agis Tsouros, former Director of Policy and Governance for Health and Wellbeing, WHO Europe; Adjunct Professor, Global Health, University of Boston; Chair of the Steering & Scientific Committees of the Observatory for Public Health Policy and Organisation
- Dimosthenis Sarigiannis, Chairman of the Board of the National Hellenic Research Foundation; Professor of Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Observatory for Public Health Policy and Organisation
- George Chrousos, President of the Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Member of the Academy of Athens; Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics and Endocrinology, University of Athens; Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Observatory for Public Health Policy and Organisation
- Eleftherios Thireos, General Practitioner / Family Physician; Greek NHS Director; President of the Athens Medical Society; Head of the General Directorate of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Heath
- Evangelia Nena, Professor of Public Health / Social Medicine / Occupational Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece