YHO at the European Health Forum Gastein

📅 30 September - 3 October 2025 | 📍 Bad Hofgastein, Austria

We’re thrilled to share that our team was at European Health Forum Gastein 2025 in Bad Hofgastein, Austria – one of Europe’s leading platforms for health policy, innovation, and dialogue. As stewards of youth voices in health, we are not just spectators: we are active participants, bridging the gap between young people’s lived realities and Europe’s institutional agenda.

Over the course of the forum, distinguished policymakers, public health leaders, academic experts, civil society actors, and youth advocates converge in multiple plenaries, workshops, panels, and networking sessions. Topics span:

  • geopolitics and their effects on health systems,
  • regulatory frameworks for medicines and health data,
  • resilience and preparedness for future crises,
  • climate-health nexus, mental health and youth well-being,
  • cross-sectoral governance and solidarity,
  • the future role of multilateral institutions such as WHO and EU health mechanisms.

Our President, Sanja Šišović had contibuted to the forum through speaking at two sessions focused on NCDs and geopolitics in health. During Prevent NCD Walking Session we vocalized the need of youth to live and grow in the enviroment where a healthy choice is an easy choice – outlining the need to intoduce measures that would provide better and more inclusive access to nutrion, physical activity and prevention.

In the main plenary on A new era for Geopolitics – What implications for a more ambitious European Health Union? session, YHO was represented by our President, who presented an agenda for youth health in Europe and underlined a few key points: 

  • Conflict, nationalism, and the climate crisis are not abstract forces -they already shape young people’s health, mobility, and mental wellbeing. Action is missing and this needs to be changed!
  • Trust in institutions is fragile. Youth want health and climate policies that are integrated, transparent, and co-created with them. Across Europe, youth are loud on the streets and social media with conrete proposals and invitations for change. It’s time for them to be heard and included!
  • Intergenerational solidarity must be a pillar of resilience. The Health Union will only succeed if young people are not just protected by it, but actively shaping it.

Top priority for strengthening Europe’s resilience should be making health a non-negotiable pillar within EU.

In a fragmented world, Europe’s greatest resilience tool is the energy and trust of its young citizens. Without them, no Union can remain ambitious. With youth, we can build a Europe that is healthier, fairer, and stronger for generations to come.

In final, we participated at the Stakeholders meeting with Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi where our vice president Urška Erklavec had the opportunity to outline the need for new EU actions on health to put youth forward.

Stay tuned through our social channels and website – we intend not just to report from Gastein but to carry its momentum forward into Europe’s health policy future.

Written by: Sanja Šišović, President