On a rather chilly Danish morning, 5-year-old Viggo crouches beside a park bench, peering at a bicycle chain. “How does it move?” he asks his grandfather, Flemming, 76, who patiently starts to explain how the gears fit together.
For Katrine, Viggo’s mother and a paediatric surgeon, moments like this – 3 generations bound together by closeness and joint activities – are reminders of what truly matters in life. “Viggo starts school next year,” she says. “He’s highly focused on how things work. He likes to take things apart and figure them out. My dad is still working and plans to continue to work for a while longer just because he enjoys it, but he’s extremely involved in our lives, and as a single mom, I think it’s important for Viggo to have that – and really beneficial for my father as well.”
Besides activities, they all share a common outlook on life: curiosity. It is something, she says, that is at the heart of what makes life worth living, of what she does as a doctor, and of what societies must do to improve health.
Curiosity and learning as cornerstones of health
For Katrine, health means well-being of both body and mind. This means one has to stay open, active and willing to experience new things. “From a mother’s perspective, I think individual health shapes societal health. How you bring up a child – the values and priorities you instil in them – helps to ensure that society as a whole is healthy, which in turn ultimately benefits the individual as well.”
Her father, Flemming, has passed on his active lifestyle to his daughter and grandson. He stays fit rowing and doing yoga, while Katrine runs and practices yoga when she can. Viggo spends his days at a forest preschool – climbing, running and exploring outdoors. “We bike, go for walks,” Katrine says. “We try to eat very healthy; we don’t really buy pre-prepared and processed food, and we try to cook as much as we can at home. We’re primarily vegetarian. But this is of course at our individual level and reflects our own privilege. Multiple things cause me concern when I think about the future of health – societies and systems need to support healthy living for everyone.”
From her peaceful corner of Denmark, the future also weighs on her mind. “Climate change is a major issue,” she says. “The rise of extremism that leads to political instability is a huge threat to health – we see it worldwide right now. There are hundreds of thousands of people suffering as a result.”
Katrine, although born in Denmark, spent years living abroad – including 2 in eastern and southern Africa, working in Kenya, Madagascar and Malawi. “There’s a lot that a high-resource physician like myself can learn from someone who lives in a low-resource setting, and vice versa.”
As a trauma and paediatric surgeon, Katrine has seen the human consequences of conflict and fragility – and the ripple effects they have across borders. Yet, she remains hopeful. “There’s not as much optimism as there used to be,” she admits, “but I do think that living in a stable country where people care about each other and still value society as a whole over the individual – that makes me hopeful. In terms of the future of medicine, we’re constantly expanding our capabilities and knowledge base in terms of the human body, so continued international collaboration is essential – so that we aren’t all in our own silos, but continue to learn from each other and different scenarios”.
A new chapter for health in the WHO European Region
Katrine’s curiosity and outlook on life echoes the themes of the newly endorsed Second European Programme of Work, 2025–2030 (EPW2) – a blueprint for a healthier, more resilient Region.
EPW2, endorsed by all Member States at the 75th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, calls for renewed commitment to health as a shared responsibility and charts a clear course for the years ahead.
At its heart lie 5 priority areas that define how WHO will work with countries to improve lives:
- maximizing health security
- tackling noncommunicable diseases and their drivers
- helping people live and age in good health
- driving climate and health action
- shaping the future of health systems, harnessing innovation and technology.
Two special initiatives reinforce these priorities: the Primary Health Care Initiative, which integrates strong, people-centred primary care across all areas of work; and the Special Initiative on Violence against Women and Girls, a regional call to action to ensure prevention, protection and care for all survivors.
Grounded in collaboration, solidarity, prevention and resilience, EPW2 reminds us that, like a family spanning generations, the health of one is bound to the health of all.