European Health Leadership Award 2024

MdM-Greece was awarded the European Health Leadership Award 2024 for the innovative project “Active and Healthy Ageing 60+”

With the central message “Creating a better future for health in Europe”, this year’s European Health Forum Gastein conference took place in Austria, where MdM-Greece was selected as the 2024 winner of the European Health Leadership Award (EHLA) for its project “Active and Healthy Ageing 60+”.

The European Health Forum Gastein, which is organised annually with the support of the Government of Austria in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe, has established the European Health Leadership Award to highlight and support the achievements of individuals or organisations leading the way in safeguarding and improving public health in the WHO European Region, as an important incentive to set an example and maximise the impact of their initiatives.

Linked to the significant demographic changes in Europe and their social and health footprint, this year’s event distinguished Medecins du Monde – Greece as a European organization that systematically works for universal health coverage and the elimination of health inequalities. In particular, the project “Active and Healthy Ageing 60+”, an innovative programme, which, by using new digital tools to combat the phenomenon of isolation and marginalisation and its impact on mental health, supported a total of 2,000 unique beneficiaries, was distinguished.

Receiving the award from the representative of the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, Stefan Eichwalder, the Operational Director of MdM-Greece, Anastasios Yfantis, expressed the Organization’s gratitude for the highly honoured recognition of its long-standing efforts to improve access to decent health services for socially vulnerable groups and special populations. A recognition which, he stressed, enables Médecins du Monde to claim the adoption of these good practices for the care of the elderly at national and local levels.

During his speech, Mr.Yfantis also referred to the public health challenges highlighted by the recent pandemic, to which MdM has attempted to respond at the community level, using the modern digital media and communication channels provided by the internet for the prevention and health promotion of elderly people. Further explaining the need to increase health literacy by actually using the available digital tools, he urged that the award should become a stepping stone to introduce these community-based and innovative approaches into the wider public policy sphere to allow universal access to digital health, which can be life-saving.