Epidemics and epidemiology: back to the future.

The word "epidemiology" was written for the first time in a report on the plague in Alghero in 1583. Although its etymology has it intricacy. For centuries it has been concerned with understanding and trying to control and prevent epidemics.

[Deaths by COVID-19: Not all were registered and others should not be accounted for].

The death counts from COVID-19 have generated public controversy. The regional health councils' need for information regardind the cases, has generated a variety of formats and procedures, used to report this information. Consecuently, this data has not always been communicated in a comparable maner to the Ministry of Health.

[Healthcare promotion in primary care: if Hippocrates were alive today…].

This article argues for the need to implement community healthcare promotion initiatives in medical practice. Some of the community initiatives introduced in primary care, as well as scientific evidence and associated implementation factors are described. The need for effective coordination between primary care and public health services, working with the community, is underlined.

[Health reports as the centrepiece of public health services].

The main objective of health reports is to contribute to the health improvement of a specific population. They are an essential support tool for the design and planning of health policies and can also be used for accountability and evaluation. This study assesses various types of health report, including that used by the City of Barcelona (Spain), with a focus on social determinants, as well as an international health report more centred on the impact of health services.

An ethics training specific for European public health.

Training in public health ethics is not at the core of public health programmes in Europe. The fruitful progress of the United States could stimulate the European schools of public health and other academic institutions to develop specifically European teaching programmes for ethics that embrace both transatlantic innovations and some adaptations based on the evolution of moral values in European societies. This paper reviews the arguments for a European public health ethics curriculum and recommends the main features of such a programme.

Evaluation of primary care: The "Primary Care Assessment Tools - Facility version" for the Spanish health system.

Objective: To obtain versions of the Primary Care Assessment Tools (PCAT)-Facility version to evaluate primary care (PC) in the Spanish context, and to analyze its feasibility, reliability and validity.

Methods: Cultural adaptation was performed through the use of forward and backward translations into Spanish and Catalan, observations and opinions of a panel of experts, and cognitive interviews with target users (PC team managers). A pilot phase was carried out in a sample of 130 managers of PC teams in Catalonia.

[How should population health be approached? SESPAS Report 2012].

The health of the population largely depends on environmental factors, raising the issue of what the role of health professionals, particularly those in public health and primary care, should be in the planning of objectives and actions for improvement. The present article proposes a trajectory, starting with knowledge of the community's strong points in health and its needs, and ending with taking action. This trajectory requires discussion on how information can be transformed into action.