Since 5th May 2023 COVID-19 is not considered a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), rather “an established and ongoing health issue” [1]. This was a moment to celebrate achievements, like the dedication of healthcare workers but also to reflect on the mistakes made [1]. Many COVID-19 deaths are still reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) and reminds us to learn from the past and take advantage of windows of opportunity before the next large-scale global health emergency. The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER)’s 20 key lessons learned and recommendations, draw from three broad influences: international reports, ASPHER COVID-19 Task Force publications, and country perspectives.

i) The United Nations General Assembly 2023 High Level Meeting (HLM) on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) led to the Political Declaration by leaders [2]. This calls for future “timely, urgent and continued leadership, global solidarity (…) to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, and fully address the direct and indirect consequences of future pandemics” [2]. Their 75 lessons include health inequalities which were severely exacerbated, the need to build and maintain global solidarity and trust, prioritise equity, and to maximise political will to build upon the lessons learned and best practices from the COVID-19 pandemic [2].

Often recommendations are broad, with undefined target groups, and the extent to which countries implement them difficult to assess. EU Member States have different priorities, budgets and possibilities to address future emergency preparedness. No “one-size fits all” exist during PH emergencies [10], hence operational plans need to be translated into different health ecosystems.

Identifying what pandemic strategies worked, and learning from success, should offer solutions for stronger evidence-based emergency preparedness plans and capacities and capabilities across Europe and globally. Cited reports above underline the importance to strengthen healthcare workforces, build PH capacity, implement economic/financial measures, create better IT and data-sharing systems, and foster multidisciplinary coordination across different sectors.

ASPHER convened a COVID-19 Task Force (TF) early in 2020 to facilitate networking among PH professionals to help them face the emergency and coordinate ASPHER’s actions across Europe [11]. This expert forum shared latest information, presented and reviewed evidence on many pandemic aspects, including epidemiological, technical, societal, and political dimensions. Collaborating with European and National Health Authorities, and non-governmental organisations, the TF helped accelerate coordination of policy responses.

ASPHER’s TF published over 30 articles, including on face masks, testing, tracking, vaccination, health inequalities, safe schools, advocacy for wider social protection and global vaccine equity. ASPHER has a pivotal role in shaping future plans, for our own academic PH responsibilities, but also in advising our partner European institutions and each country.

ASPHER’s previous Reports included: “Covid-19 Pandemic Waves Surveillance”; “The Need for Vaccine Internationalism”; “Handbook on Basic Epidemiological Terms” which supported journalists and non-specialists; ASPHER’s first inequalities statement “How the Pandemic is Amplifying Health Inequalities in Europe”; Handbooks of basic terms for health inequalities and for phone-based apps for contact tracing; and a statement on the “Reopening of Schools of Public Health—Rapid Review Survey” highlighted how European public health schools planned to reopen campuses.

ASPHER’s TF identified country-level “lessons learned” perspective examples across Europe. We recognised specific lessons for countries or regions, related to their populations’ health needs, cultures and vulnerabilities, strength of their PH workforces, and varying access to universal healthcare. Lessons can be learned from localised PH systems given different severe pressures localities initially experienced, such as Northern Italy or lower vaccine population coverage in parts of Eastern Europe.

Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic must be acted upon. Mistakes, including inevitable “public health errors” [12], were made but strong progress was made in epidemiology, healthcare and health sciences, and wider academic and other scientific fields.

The pandemic highlighted the urgency of developing harmonised PH and competencies for epidemiology and other areas [13], and also better global governance [14]. The ECDC-ASPHER Competency Framework for applied infectious disease epidemiology, exemplifies harmonised approaches to investigating and controlling infectious diseases and capacity building of PH workforces across Europe [15].

The ASPHER COVID-19 Task Force, now “Public Health Emergencies Task Force” will continue work to improve emergency preparedness. This will help harmonise new approaches post-pandemic, for PH to be better equipped and more resilient in future emergencies. We identified 20 priority lessons/themes below, to guide ASPHER.

1. Ensure ASPHER’s independent and trusted voice.