Please note that the official conference opening will take place on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 17:00.
Commercial determinants of health – Politics between individualizing of responsibility and the reluctance to tackle the systemics of markets
President of the European Health Forum Gastein
From September 2005 to 2018, Clemens Auer was the director general of the Ministry of Health, responsible for the Austrian health system (care planning, financing, quality, and digitization) and international affairs as well as for the oversight of the Public Health and Food Authority (AGES). As the managing director of the Federal Health Agency, he was responsible, inter alia, for the overall planning of the public health care system and hospital financing by the Republic of Austria, with an overall annual budget back then of almost 30 billion euros.
One of the focal points of the strategic work concentrated on eHealth, the introduction of the Electronic Health Act (ELGA) in Austria. From 2012 to 2016, he was the co-chair of the eHealth Network of the competent authorities within the European.
From 2018 onwards, Auer was the Special Envoy for Health and from 2019 to 2022 a member and vice chair of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. In 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, he was the co-chair of the Joint Procurement Board for the vaccines for 450 million EU citizens.
Since 2017, Auer has been the president of the European Health Forum Gastein.
The rise of non-communicable diseases of people, like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes or obesity and many more, are haunting health systems and pushing the financial feasibility of health care to the edges. This is not new and well talked about. We all know that the intake of sugar, salt and fat in highly processed food is causing harm to health of people. We also know the environmental hazards caused by industrial waste or products are endangering health.
This is what we call the commercial determinants of health. But why is it, politics want to delegate the responsibility of not getting exposed to such threats to individuals, maybe in supporting them with new gadgets to recognize the hazard and the potential negative consequences for someone’s health?
What we are missing is the systemic approach to stop industries from putting food products on the market which are causing harm to people. The need for sound regulation is overheard, nowadays even rejected, since regulation as such is seen as hindering the competitiveness of industries.
Building Networks and Partnerships: The Only Route to Sustainable Healthcare
Executive Director, Healthcare Without Harm Europe
Mark joined HCWH Europe in 2024 after a career leading international health, development and humanitarian organisations.
For nine years he was CEO of Cochrane - the world’s leading producer of healthcare systematic reviews - where he led its growth to 113,000 members and supporters in 139 countries, and a massive increase in the global access to and impact of its evidence.
He spent eleven years with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, where he was a member of the senior management team after holding operational roles across Europe and Africa.
He also led Panos London, growing an international network in Africa, South Asia & the Caribbean to support local media. He began his career as a journalist in London and Hong Kong, and Communications Director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Delivering meaningful climate action in healthcare depends on strong, long-term partnerships that can translate ambition into system-wide change. In this keynote, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe’s Executive Director, Mark Wilson, will highlight the critical role of networks in accelerating transformation and overcoming implementation challenges. He will introduce HCWH Europe’s new Strategy, which places partnerships, networks, and scaling impact at its core. This includes the development of national centres and country-level networks across Europe, which is intended to expand rapidly HCWH Europe's partnership ecosystem and ensure that change is driven from the ground up within the unique contexts of each country's national health system. The keynote will explore which collaboration models are most effective in practice, and share key tools, guidance, and solutions that support practitioners with implementation, such as HCWH Europe’s Carbon Management Mentoring Programme and Decarbonisation Journey. He will also reflect on the enabling policy frameworks required to sustain and scale impact, offering practical insights for practitioners, policymakers and network leaders seeking to drive climate and health action through collective effort.
Professor, UMIT Tirol, Austria
Professor Dr. Elisabeth Nöhammer has a background in management, socio-economics (both Masters) and health sciences (Doctorate), which she combines in her research and teaching. She is vice-chair of the HPH Future Leaders Advisory Board, serves on the board of the Austrian Public Health Society and is vice-president of the EUPHA section Health Promotion. Moreover, she leads the Master’s (CE) program in Health Care Management at UMIT TIROL.
Her work focuses on improving individual and organizational health in hospitals, companies, and tertiary education. To do so, she examines organizations and their stakeholders across structural, group, and individual levels, bringing a strong evidence base and a practical orientation to health promotion, in particular in hospital settings.