In this July episode, Editor-in-Chief Pooja Jha is joined by Deputy Editor Ivana Nedic and Senior Editor Stephanie Becker to reflect on the first half of 2026 for The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. Together, they discuss key themes from recent conferences across Europe, including personalised endocrinology, liver disease, antimicrobial resistance, stroke care, cardiovascular inequalities, and long-term population health research.

They also highlight major journal initiatives from the first half of the year, including newly launched Series, and look ahead to upcoming projects. Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation on the research, policy, and editorial priorities shaping regional health in Europe in 2026.

Check the latest issue at thelancet.com–Regional Health Europe

In this episode of In Conversation With, Larissa Otero, senior editor of The Lancet Regional Health Europe, speaks with Professor Christoph Lange (Research Center Borstel, Germany; TB Net) and Professor Liga Kuksa (Latvia's national centre for tuberculosis and lung diseases) about their June 2026 study on long-term outcomes after multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment in Latvia. They trace Latvia's path from European MDR TB hotspot, with more than 300 cases a year in the late 1990s, to just 22 cases last year, achieved through centralised expertise, sustained political commitment, and strong surveillance.

Their retrospective national cohort also reveals a striking gap: under WHO definitions, fewer than 5% of patients were classified as cured, yet 77% achieved relapse-free survival on long-term follow-up, raising urgent questions about how treatment success should be defined. The conversation closes with new antimicrobial stewardship standards for TB and why political instability, including the war in Ukraine, still shapes Europe's epidemic.

Click here to read the full article at thelancet.com:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(26)00088-8/fulltext

In this episode, Deputy Editor Ivana Nedic speaks with Prof Jeffrey Lazarus, Chair of a new The Lancet Regional Health – Europe Series on chronic liver disease, and Dr Elisa Pose, one of the Series co-chairs, about why chronic liver disease must be treated as a major public health priority in Europe.

The discussion explores the burden of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, steatotic liver disease, alcohol-related liver disease, and viral hepatitis, and considers how earlier detection, integrated models of care, and stronger policy action could help reduce preventable liver disease across the region.

Click here to read the full series:

www.thelancet.com/series-do/chronic-liver-disease