The European Commission will publish an update on the European Health Union: Prepare, Prevent and Protect Europe on Wednesday 22 May. Like the Belgian motto “L'Union fait laforce” [Unity makes strength]The Health Union's goal is to build a more resilient Europe.
“This Commission has set a very ambitious health agenda from the beginning of this mandate, and this is reflected in my mandate document,” Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides told Euraactiv . “Since then, we have accomplished this challenge and much more.”
Kyriakides said putting patients at the heart of the EU and bringing it closer to its people in the area of health was a top priority for the European Commission, adding: “This is the essence of our European Health Union. A union in which equal access to optimal healthcare, medicines and prevention is a fundamental right that we will defend.”
“It took the pandemic crisis to make us realise we needed to change the way we worked in health policy, but by building a strong European health union we are now able to deliver what our citizens expect.”
Imagine that the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility will allocate €43 billion to healthcare in 2019, or that the EU will be given the power to implement a strategy of more than 80 vaccines despite initial supply shortages. Very few people would have been able to do it. % of the EU adult population has been fully vaccinated.
The original European Health Union, announced in November 2020, focuses on serious cross-border health threats and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) on crisis preparedness and response. The emphasis was on how to strengthen it.
Today's document is expected to take a broader approach, emphasizing the consensus that emergency preparedness also requires good public health and robust health systems.
Asked if he thought political support for health was waning, Kyriakides said the EU's achievements over the past few years would not have been possible without the enormous efforts between the EU, member states and stakeholders: “I am convinced that this momentum and political support will continue in the coming years.”
“Health must remain at the top of the political agenda, and it is up to each of us to ensure this.”
Are you ready?
Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta expressed concern in a recent report that the EU has not learned lessons from the pandemic. Mr. Kyriakides pointed to the efforts made to strengthen health security and preparedness through the EU's leadership in Europe and globally.
The list is long and includes the creation of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Agency (HERA) and the strengthening of the EMA and ECDC.
“Our health system is receiving financial support through NextGenerationEU and EU4Health to become more sustainable, accessible, inclusive and resilient.”
When asked about the 20% cut in the EU4Health budget, which would save no small amount of €1 billion, he remained optimistic, saying that despite the cuts, the program remains the same as the EU has so far. It is said to be the largest and most ambitious of its kind. She is determined to minimize the impact of staff reductions due to redeployment. “There is another way.”
She remains convinced that this program will significantly strengthen health systems and protect the health and well-being of EU citizens.
“Looking forward, we believe that we must prioritize efforts to address people’s immediate health concerns, but also to ensure long-term public health and health systems across the European Union.” It’s also important to build a foundation for building resilience.”
“We are building a strong European Health Union that will be better prepared for any crisis that may arise in the future. And we will achieve all this without changing anything when it comes to the EU’s capabilities. It was possible.”
ECDC builds expertise on behavioral and social aspects of disease management
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EMA receives ban from WHO
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About the agenda
22 May – The Commission publishes the communication: “European Health Union: Acting together for the health of people”
May 22 – COREPER discusses the Commission's proposals for regulation of quality and safety standards for substances of human origin (“SoHO”) for human applications.
22 May – Meeting of the Council’s Horizontal Working Group on Drugs
May 23 – WHO Webinar “Unified Health Preparedness Review (UHPR) from national to global preparedness and solidarity for a safer world”
May 23-24 – Meeting of the Board’s Public Health Working Group
23 May – The European Health Systems Policy Monitoring Organization will host a webinar to discuss the EU response to the prevention and control of AMR.
27-29 May – Experts from the EMA Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee meet in Brussels
May 27th – June 1st – World Health Assembly in Geneva. Amendments to the International Health Regulations and Pandemic Agreement will be on the agenda
27-31 May – A series of five EFPIA webinars on how to reduce cancer inequalities in Europe will be held in the backdrop of the European elections
May 28th – Belgian Presidential Conference on Health Technology R&I in Brussels
May 28 – W@LifeSciences speaks on science communication in Brussels
May 28-29 – The Congressional Drugs and Medical Devices Working Group will discuss a second compromise on the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act's incentive package.
28-31 May – Enforcement Officers Working Group meets in Ghent to exchange expert opinions
May 29 – COREPER I discussion on the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law Deficiency Cluster
May 31 – World No Tobacco Day 2024
May 31 – EDAH European Health Data Space event in Brussels
May 31 – Innovative Health Initiative Online Event on Antimicrobial Resistance
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
Read more at Euractiv
