NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2025
Futures from Past to Present
From the editor
From Breaking Records to Breaking Systems
To break an Olympic record you also need to be a bit crazy. Because against all evidence, you have to believe that you will be able to do something that no one has ever done before. Not just faster, higher, longer, or bigger – but better than anyone. And in 2025 to dare to believe in a better future for health, you kind of also need a small dose of insanity. Working against odds, political backlash, changes in the very foundation of global health. Yet, this would also logically be where we needed to be. The transition from an unsustainable model towards something better would likely never happen with a simple, easy transformation from the old to the new. So congrats, we might finally have reached the end of the sickcare system and will slowly be able to build a health system.
So while EHFF is of course about futures, looking at the past can help give an idea about how far we’ve come and where to go from here. David Somekh has thus been building a great series of insights from his perspective of the past to the present and from this also a glimpse into our futures.
Will we break Olympic records in 2026? Well, if they had one for organisations like ours, we would certainly compete for the podium. Some days with rain or snow, others in the sun. All of them with energy and dedication and some of them with a dash of crazy daring to dream of doing something no one has ever done before.
Lars Münter, EHFF Network Director
This month’s newsletter was co-edited and compiled by Edoardo Montin, a member of the EHFF.
Edoardo Montin, EHFF Member
Futures from Past to Present
Lars Münter invited me to write a review of EHFF’s changing view of the future over the 15 years or so that EHFF has identified as a futures organisation. Interestingly, this led me down a trip down memory lane to find both path, present, and future interlocked in constant evolution. And in a series of 7 chapters, I will try to share some of these key reflections with you as you proceed towards new initiatives and experiences of this particular complex experience of evolution of health.
David Somekh, EHFF Co-founder and Chair of Trustees
Chapter 1 – A Retrospective Beginning
This article is a reflective journey through EHFF’s past, present, and future, exploring why Europe’s health systems must radically change and how foresight, innovation, and people-centred thinking can shape what comes next.
Click here to read the full article.
Chapter 2 – Patient Empowerment
Exploring patient empowerment, tracing its evolution from policy breakthroughs to present challenges, questioning definitions, exposing barriers, and asking whether citizens can gain agency in future health systems.
Click here to read the full article.
Chapter 3 – Healthcare Transformation
Why promising ideas fail to scale, how disruptive thinking is misunderstood, and what must change for innovation to truly transform complex health systems.
Click here to read the full article.
Chapter 4 – e-Health
eHealth’s promise and pitfalls, exploring digital innovation, mobile health, and AI alongside growing concerns over evidence, hype, trust, and the risk of losing humanity in healthcare.
Click here to read the full article.
Chapter 5 – Transforming Healthcare Education
A sharp reflection on healthcare education, exposing behavioral patterns, workforce shortages, and outdated training, while exploring why new roles, shared values, and integrated learning are essential for sustainable, humane health systems.
Click here to read the full article.
Chapter 6 – Health and Wellbeing
Examining health and wellbeing within the emerging wellbeing economy, tracing EHFF’s engagement with policy, culture, and values to rethink progress, challenge GDP-driven models, and imagine healthier futures for society.
Click here to read the full article.
Chapter 7 – Social Movements
A bold conclusion highlighting social movements as the missing lever for health transformation, exploring planetary health, community power, and cultural change as pathways from failing systems toward resilient, people-centred futures.
Click here to read the full article.
Two upcoming events with EHFF
Time to be Radical?
We’re collaborating with the Radical Health Festival in Helsinki to explore and advocate for radical solutions for better health. The programme is still under development, but already confirmed is a workshop joining hands with Nordic Wellbeing Academy and Nordic Women’s Health Hub on women’s health – and that Nina Sønderberg will be the later debate panel on menopause and women’s health.
And you can join too! We have two free tickets to hand out – and also a discount on the early bird before December 1st (so act fast!) – use code RHF2628 – or write Lars Münter to learn more.
Time for Democracy?
The European Health Futures Forum, the Nordic Wellbeing Academy and the Healthcare Futurists invite you to a network meeting and ‘Prequel Workshop’.
We will bring interdisciplinary academic experts and young professionals together to identify core challenges that need to be mastered to strengthen trust and empowerment in healthcare and education, and thus would strengthen trust in our democracies.
Read more here – or contact Edoardo Montin for more information.
Announcements from EHFF
Women’s Health – Connect to Change
4 December 2025
On the 4th of December at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten (Austria), a diverse group of public health experts, academics, advocates, and European health leaders explored how collaboration can drive long-overdue transformation in women’s health.
The initiative was developed in collaboration with Women in Global Health Austria, the Nordic Women’s Health Hub, the Women’s Health Charter 2040, the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, the European Health Futures Forum (EHFF), and the Nordic Wellbeing Academy, drawing inspiration from Nordic Vision 2040.
Discussions centered on repositioning women’s health as a strategic public health priority, with menopause recognized as a critical issue for healthy ageing and wellbeing across the life course. The event fostered inclusive dialogue between women leaders and supportive male allies, emphasizing the importance of lived experience and effective storytelling in shaping policy, research, and public understanding.
As a key outcome, the meeting marked the first concrete step toward sustained Austrian–Nordic collaboration on women’s health, strengthened alignment around the Women’s Health Charter 2040, and generated momentum for future joint initiatives, advocacy efforts, and cross-border action to advance more equitable, preventive, and gender-responsive health systems.
Future Health Workforce – From Aalborg to the World
16-18 September
Working Together4Health – an obvious goal for stakeholders in the health ecosystem, but sometimes still a strategic challenge. It was therefore also the title of the Danish EU Presidency conference September 16-18 in Aalborg, Denmark. Read more about it here
During the conference EHFF and Nordic Wellbeing Academy co-hosted a workshop session with Natasha Azzopardi Muscat (WHO Europe), Charlotte Marchandise (EUPHA), and Stella Goeschl (JA PreventNCD Youth Advisory Group) on pathways for action for the Future Health Workforce and its wellbeing.
Find the full report about the workshop below with forewords by the speakers and the conclusion of top 5 key points as co-created by the speakers and audience:
- KPI for workforce well-being – measure and hold leaders accountable
- Technology validation – ensure an evaluation of AI/innovation (safety, impact, cost-effectiveness)
- Stand up for people with science – evidence-based policies, not quick fixes
- Inclusion of young people – systematically in panels, education, and policy
- Stand up for communities – ensure public health and local engagement
Download the full report here.
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Warm regards,
EHFF