The first monthly Global Health policy forum - Towards the Communication on the "EU role in Global Health"

Brussels, 10 September 2009 - Frazer Goodwin, Global Health Project Manager of the European Public Health Alliance (and member of Action for Global Health) co-chaired the meeting alongside Frederic Goyet of the European Commission’s DG Development.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the preparations of the Commission for its Communication on Global Health to be adopted during the Spanish Presidency. The meeting commenced with an outline presentation of the thoughts of the Commission motivating the Communication presented by Juan Garay, Health Team Co-Ordinator of DG Development.

The meeting gathered representatives of many European stakeholders working in the field of global health as well as representatives of DGs responsible for the three areas of the intended Communication - DG SANCO, DG Research and DG Development. The stakeholders present came from Civil society organizations active on development and health – including many service providers, NGOs from the health field, researchers, International and UN organizations, as well as those from the Private sector. Additional representatives from Spain (the Member state likely to oversee the presidency of the EU during discussion in Council on the Communication) and five Directorate Generals of the European Commission were present.

The meeting outlined the three main areas of the Communication that have been identified as the major challenges for Global Health during informal consultations and internal Commission discussions:

 major and growing health inequity,

 need to strengthen coherence between external and internal policies,

 weak equity and ownership of global health research.

These areas would be embedded within an overall framework for the Communication which identifies the global situation and its challenges, the present EU role and its potential enhanced added value on the worldwide arena, the guiding principles for EU action, as well as the EU’s role in Global Health and its priorities for action.

A formal online consultation on the Communication is envisaged for at least eight weeks starting on the 1st of October, 2009.

The forum was the first in what is intended to be a series of monthly lunchtime events, the purpose of which being to bring all relevant stakeholders on global health together to debate the policy arena. The second Global Health policy forum with stakeholders will be held on the 8 October, 2009.

Issues that were raised during this event included:

 the nature of what basic or primary health care services consisted of,

 what specifically the EU can do collectively to address health inequalities,

 the need to include actions to address inequalities within developing countries as well as between north and south,

 whether targets for total health development assistance were needed,

 the need to ensure coherence across all EU policies,

 the evidence base for what has worked and why,

 innovative financing for health,

 the measures needed to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation,

 additional barriers to access to health care services (such as user fees),

 the issue of the division of labour in key development sectors,

 ensuring clarity between this Communication and existing (EU) initiatives (for example the Programme of action on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, or the Programme of Action on Gender and Development),

 how EU delegations could be involved in the process to facilitate future implementation,

 how voice from civil society from the South may be effectively heard during the consultation.

Whilst the meeting did not resolve how these issue may be resolved it did provide those in the Commission with information for what input they may expect from stakeholders in the forthcoming consultative exercise.

The Commission was keen to use this new fora to aid the process and allow stakeholders a fora to air their priorities on EU health and global health. The Commission also underscored the commitment of the Spanish Presidency to give a priority to this issue as part of their preparations for the EU position for the High Level Summit on the Millennium Development Goals.

Related EPHA articles:

 European Commission plans Communication on Global Health

Presentation given by Mr Juan Garay on the 10th of September, 2009 at DG Development outlining the process towards the Communication on the EU role in Global Health can be found here.

A roadmap for the Communication on the EU role in Global Health can be found here.