As president of the Scientific Committee for the 29th ASPHER Annual Conference, it is indeed a privilege to address all the ASPHER community members.

It is my great satisfaction to be actively involved in ASPHER activities by taking up again my activities in this Association, which I feel so proud of, having been honoured to be one of its former presidents.

In point one of the ASPHER statutes, it states that“The association of Schools of Public Health of the European Region is an Association of institutions and individuals primarily concerned with strengthening the role of public health by improving the training of public health professionals for both practice and research within the European Region, as defined by WHO.”In line with the main point of this mission, and taking into account that the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems to be held next year will have the principal objective of increasing our understanding of the impact that health systems have on people’s health and on economic growth, we thought it most appropriate that the central subject of our Annual Conference should be to examine the role of Public Health within health systems, by analyzing its key functions and educational needs, with a view to strengthening Public Health services.

For all these reasons, ASPHER members will meet in Valencia between 26 and 28 October 2007 to discuss and debate the subject “Strengthening Public Health Services in Europe. Public Health Functions and Educational Needs”. From this broad subject, the different thematic sessions scheduled for this 3-day event have been programmed and we encourage you to actively participate in them by sending and presenting your work and proposals.

We hope that the joint presence of the members of the Schools of Public Health, the leaders and speakers of the highest level in the field of health, to whom we wish to express our profound gratitude in advance for their participation, creates an enriching experience with regards to education in public health, with a vocation of service to society.

I hope to welcome you to Valencia in October, and I extend to you all the enthusiasm and efforts of the Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee who I am truly honoured to represent.

José M. Martín-Moreno
President of the Scientific Committee
29th ASPHER Annual Conference