A profile of Josep Figueras, who has served as Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies since 1998.

This year, the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG) is taking place for the 27th time. As a member of the board, Josep Figueras has attended 26 of these conferences. “On one occasion I wasn’t able to attend for family reasons,” says Figueras, who is Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies – a partnership hosted by the WHO Regional Office for Europe together with the European Commission, twelve European Member States and other organisations. The Observatory was founded in 1998 and has always been an important partner of the European Health Forum Gastein, which was established in the same year.

As Figueras emphasises: “Since its inception, the EHFG has offered a unique platform for open debate on critical topics of European health policy. One other notable aspect of the EHFG is that all four key stakeholders of health policy – public sector, private sector, civil society and science/academia – are represented equally. And even when opinions on a particular issue might differ fundamentally, the Forum provides a space for objective and constructive dialogue.”

Public health should be prioritised

A public health expert, Josep Figueras grew up in the small village of Medinyà, in Girona. Reflecting on his childhood, he says, “I am deeply grateful that, despite our modest means, my parents made it possible for me to get a good education. It opened the gateway to the world and allowed me to gain invaluable experiences and insights that I would never have had otherwise.”

I witnessed at first hand how deeply health is intertwined with social issues.

JOSEP FIGUERAS, DIRECTOR OF THE EUROPEAN OBSERVATORY ON HEALTH SYSTEMS AND POLICIES

A Catalan native, he completed his medical studies at the University of Barcelona in 1983, followed by specialist training in Family & Community Medicine at the University of Valencia. Here, he worked in a pilot primary healthcare centre in one of the poorest districts of the Mediterranean metropolis: “Unemployment and crime were the highest in Valencia, and I witnessed at first hand how deeply health is intertwined with social issues. There are limits – and sometimes these are really quite tight constraints – to what medical care alone can do for individual people, and therefore it is urgently necessary for public health measures to receive greater weight.”

Moving to the UK later on, Josep Figueras obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health and a PhD in Health Policy and Financing from the London School of Economics. He then worked as a lecturer and established a new MSc course for Health Services Management and Policy in the Department of Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. His next position was as Regional Adviser in Public Health at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen.

Supporting health policy-making

In 1998, Josep Figueras was put in charge of the newly founded European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, an initiative that he spearheaded: “Our most important task is to support and promote evidence-informed health policy-making. We aim to provide decision-makers with information that can lead to better health for as many people as possible, incorporating all parts of the population.” At the end of this year, he will be succeeded by Ewout van Ginneken, who is currently Coordinator of the Berlin hub of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies at Berlin University of Technology.

Josep Figueras, meanwhile, is embarking on new ventures, including part-time university work – he is currently visiting professor at the London School of Economics and the NOVA National School of Public Health in Lisbon. He also has plans in the pipeline for health policy in Europe. Josep Figueras is married and has three grown-up children. But what does he do to keep himself healthy? “I like running and take part in half-marathons. And for some years, I have been cycling to the office. It’s an environmentally friendly way to travel and a good way to keep fit.”