New European Parliament faces tough challenge on health

Promoting a health-friendly EU environment

 Civil Society Organisations must be recognised as essential partners and the role of ‘health advocates’ in bringing on-the-ground expertise should be supported.

 The budget of the European Union is only 1% of total EU GDP and the health funds within this are a very small component of the total. Therefore it is very important that the allocation of this spending contributes to reducing health inequalities, and ensuring positive health outcomes.

 Ensuring a high level of human health protection in all Community activities must be a priority. Impact assessments should be further fostered in order to clearly foresee how different options will affect health.

 The current Lisbon Agenda’s objectives of growth and jobs are failing to fullfil European citizens’ expectations. The EU must show leadership and clearly recognise health and well-being as overraching objectives in its agenda for the next decade.

 The 2004-2009 Intergroup on Health and Consumer Protection provided a useful forum where MEPs had the opportunity to regularly meet with consumer and public health experts from across the EU. You as an MEP have the possibility to ensure the re-establishement of a health-related Intergroup and take an active part in its work.

 Environment and Health are inextricably linked, should be tackled together and remain high on the political agenda.

Keeping people healthy

 Any action taken at Community, national or local level needs to reflect two objectives on health inequalities: 1) Mitigating the health impact of poverty and exclusion on affected population groups; 2) Addressing the poverty cycle to break generational health inequalities.

 Appropriate action must be taken at appropriate level and sector of government.

 Ensuring that EU public health policy provides an environment in which people are able to lead healthy lifestyles and make healthy choices: 1) Information for consumers- clear labelling on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, tobacco packaging; 2) Build environments that encourage physical activity and ’active travel’.

 The EU should ensure coherence between MS Actions Plans on determinants of health (such as on obesity for example) by producing guidelines and facilitate an exchange of best practices.

 Subsidies from the Common Agriculture Policy should be diverted away from food that do not contribute to healthy lifestyle to those that do, such as fruits and vegetables.

 Well-being as a marker of good health for all European citizens must be ensured – this includes social and mental well-being, and therein role of complementary and alternative medicine must be recognised.

Managing the patient journey

 Patients Rights must remain high on the agenda. An agreement on the Patients Rights Directive must be reached that ensures the rights of patients and equity in access and quality of care.

 The Council Recommendation on Patient Safety and Healthcare associated infections was an important step but much more needs to be done to ensure equally safe and high quality care for all citizens in Europe.

 There must be a transfer of the competency for pharmaceutical policy in the European Commission from DG Enterprise to DG Sanco. This will help to empower patients and drive up quality of care rather than focussing on internal market objectives.

 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) must be combated in the coming years to help avoid more than 4.1 million hospital-acquired infections – an increasing number - which lead to highly complicated and often fatal infections.

Enabling developing countries to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals by 2015

 Europe needs to ensure that it sticks to its promised increase in aid for developing countries (EU Collective target of 0.56% of GDP in 2010 and 0.7% in 2015).

 The long established EP call for 20% of EU aid to be spent on health and education needs to be honoured.

 The EU agenda for Action on the MDGs agreed by Heads of State and Government needs to be fully implemented.