Secretariat News May 2009

EPHA working meetings

On 5 May, EPHA organised one of the Follow-up Sessions of its Training Programme for Young Health Professionals. EPHA had the pleasure to welcome Elisabeth Kidd from DG SANCO who gave an insight on the Commission’s work, functioning, and challenges and engaged in a vivid dialogue with the participants on the EC work in general. The meeting also included an interactive training session on EU advocacy, provided by Tamsin Rose.

A member of the EPHA Secretariat met with representatives from the board of Actis (Norwegian Policy Network on Alcohol and Drugs) on 14 May 2009. The meeting was a chance to introduce EPHA and its work but also to give an overview of the priority areas for EPHA relating to alcohol policy.

On 29 May, EPHA and COFACE met in order to discuss each organisations’ current work on family and public health-related policy areas and to identify what future cooperation is envisaged.

EPHA working groups

On 13 May, EPHA held a Policy Coordination Meeting (PCM) for its membership. Updates on the policy and advocacy work undertaken by the organisation were presented and discussed with the members. EPHA also took note of the work its members are currently undertaking. The minutes of the PCM are available here.

EPHA, your ’eyes and ears’ in Brussels

On 4 May, EPHA attended a debate on "Europe in the Economic & Financial Crisis: How to Bring Back Prosperity for Everyone?" organised by the European People’s Party. The panel gathered high level speakers, such as the European Central Bank’s Vice President and Ministers of Finance of Greece and Finland. This meeting was, inter alia, an opportunity to get more information on the EPP’s manifesto and on concrete economic recommendations to recover from the crisis. For more information on the political parties’ manifestos, please click here.

On 4 May 2009, EPHA/Action for Global Health was present in a meeting organised by Health Action International (HAI) on the third round of bilateral negotiations between the EC and the countries of the Andean region (CAN). The main goal of the meeting was to give Civil Society Organisations from the region the opportunity to comment on the potential harm these negotiations will bring in terms of poorer access to essential medicines and human rights violations. For more information on the meeting, please click here.

On 14 May, 2009, EPHA/Action for Global Health participated in CONCORD roundtable on the annual AidWatch report 2009 “Lighten the load : In a time of crisis, European aid has never been more important.” The meeting gathered AidWatch makers, EU officials and representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). CONCORD’s key message in times of developing countries facing the full impact of the economic crisis was that European governments are falling short by nearly €40bn on their aid promises. More information on the report can be found on article 3509.

EPHA attended an event on mental health and gender that was organised at the West Midlands in Europe office on 13 May 2009. The meeting formed part of the implementation of the European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being and provided recommendations for policy improvements in tackling gender differences in mental health. A full article is available here

On 14 May, 2009 EPHA/ Action for Global Health participated in a meeting with CSOs convened by the Directorate General for Development to discuss “state of play” and exchange views on preparations for the 2009 EU Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) Report to be launched in September 2009. The meeting was to present and (unofficially) consult a draft version of 2009 PCD Report with CSOs. The idea was to highlight some of the 13 chapters (“PCD organizational issues” and 12 PCD policy areas) and to evoke a debate on whether the initial content meets CSOs’ expectations. The report from the meeting can be found on article 3508.

On 14-16 May, EPHA attended the Annual Conference of the European Foundation Centre in Rome. The event provided a large number of European and American foundations, as well as civil society organisations to network and exchange best practices on tackling poverty. More information can be found here Fighting Poverty, Creating Opportunities: EPHA attends the European Foundation Centre’s Annual Conference

EPHA was invited to participate as a policy advisor in the 2nd Plenary meeting of the EURO-PREVOB project in Istanbul from 18-19 May. The project aims to form a link between research and policy making in order to tackle obesity. A full meeting report can be found here

On 19 May, EPHA took part in the Social Platform’s meeting on Imapct assessment. This meeting gave a clear view on the changes brought to the impact assessment guidelines after the 2008 consultation and on the ongoing work of the Commission regarding social impact assessments. Please find more information on article 3524.

On 25 May, 2009 EPHA/Action for Global Health attended the launch of the 2009 African Economic Outlook: "Africa facing up to the crisis and ICT". According to the report, the current global economic downturn has seriously affected African economies with GDP falling down from a projected 5.6% to 2.3% in 2009. Despite the crisis, Africa is still growing and has proven more resilient to exogenous shocks. However, more and effective aid is needed not to lose what has been achieved so far - in particular with regards to MDGs and spendings on public services. To read the full news story from the meeting please click here.

On 26 May 2009 the European Voice held an event entitled, "Patient Choice: Pandoras box?". The event discussed the possible implications of patient choice on healthcare and whether or not patient choice acts to drive up standards of healthcare across Europe. The event involved discussions on the importance of information to patients and the Commission’s role in approving information to the public. The Commission’s role in quality and safety was also largely debated. A full report will be available soon.

EPHA health advocacy

The EudraCT information day organised by EMEA in London on 30 April 2009 was an event organised to inform stakeholders about the database of clinical trials in Europe. The day was important as it announced the development of the database to allow clinical trial data to be available to the public for the first time. This meeting was a chance for EPHA to raise the concerns of the public health community about the clarity of this data and the ease for citizens in accessing this data. A full meeting report is available here.

On 14 May, EPHA attended the EU Health Policy Forum which gave an opportunity for participants to give input to the Forum’s future work and to get an update on major health policies. For more information, please click here.

A preparatory meeting for the 8th Round Table against Poverty and Social Exclusion was organised by the European Commission and the Swedish Presidency on 14 May 2009. EPHA attended this meeting and stressed the need to mainstream health inequalities throughout social inclusion policies. A summary of the main points from the meeting can be found here

On 15 May 2009, EPHA gave a presentation on public health advocacy at a European level to UK-based tobacco policy experts from the Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Network (CHaMPs).

On 27 May 2009, EPHA was interviewed by Euronews, a major European news broadcaster on the subject of cross-border healthcare. EPHA answered the question with a one minute response. To see the interview please click here