European Public Health NewsPresident’s columnEUPHA office columnWHO Regional Director for Europe: The European health report 2012 is being prepared, breaking new ground in measuring well-being in close alignment with Health 2020—the new European policy for healthEditor’s noteThe European Innovation Partnership that champions Active and Healthy AgeingMalta 2012 5th Annual European Public Health Conference 2012

In the president’s column, Ricciardi presents the impact of the financial and economic crisis on public health. Jakab updates us in the WHO/EURO column on the European health report and health 2020, combining health and well-being. In the DG Sanco column, Gomez presents the holistic approach of the European Innovation Partnership; and Zeegers reflects on the strengths of partnership. All these contributions are related to two words: Finances and Collaboration. The economic crisis forces us even more to reflect on efficient ways of implementing innovative strategies such as Health 2020 and the European Innovation Partnership. And is further encouraging synergies and using each other’s strengths not the most efficient way forward? # President’s column {#article-title-2} As reported by Martin McKee,1 the impact on population health of a financial and economic crisis, such as the current global crisis, may lead to an increase in suicides and deaths. Many European countries seem to confirm this hypothesis: the last available data from Italy show a sudden increase of 5.3% in suicides in 2008 (3.799, compared with 3.607 suicides in 2006, which represented the lowest value in a decreasing trend in the past 20 years). Although these numbers are less striking than data from other countries (in Greece, Latvia and Ireland, countries where the financial crisis severely affected the real economy, suicides increased by 17, 17 and 13%, respectively2), this is a remarkable finding. Although the economic downturn directly affects health and increases poverty, it also has indirect consequences for well-being through its effects on public policies. In particular, the public finance crisis of the past 2 years has forced governments to reduce public funding and to increase co-payments (which, in turn, reduce disposable income) and to reduce the overall actual supply of health services. If reducing public funding is not compensated by efficiency gains, providers …