June 2010 Newsletter

Welcome to the June 2010 Newsletter

The first year of the new Parliament and the new Commission is finally winding down, with activities continuing longer than normal well into June and July. Activities are however continuing with a renewed spirit of cooperation, with the Council conclusions this summer bringing some progress on a number of important files and priorities for Europeans. The flagship European health conference for this Commission was held at the end of June - the Open Forum brought together many from across Europe to discuss the implementation and delivery of Health in All Policies. This was in addition to EPHA’s own flagship conference held in mid-June - our General Assembly brought many of our members including first-time attendees to Brussels to discuss our five year strategy, global governance for health and the challenges facing public health for the forthcoming period.

Reviewing our work for the last twelve months, we can see both wins and losses for public health. The highlight of the change in EU governance for pharmaceutical policy in November 2009 is tempered by the disappointment on the Parliamentary discussions of food labelling. Positive moves in the Common Agricultural Policy, EU Trade discussions and indeed a renewed commitment to the Millennium Development Goals mark two steps forward, whereas the failure of the EU2020 strategy to take into consideration the health and well-being of people living in Europe seems that too much of the next period for Europe will be little more than business as usual.

Indications that decision-makers do not understand and are not paying enough attention to public health and well-being is a threat that we as the public health community cannot ignore. Health inequalities, tobacco and alcohol-related harm, food production, affordability and availability, the health workforce, recruitment and retention, the health system, accessibility and affordability as well as the impact of innovations in technology, intellectual property, resource management and public governance are at the heart of healthy communities, people and a sustainable future. Often the amount of money allocated by politicians is an indication of how important they find a subject - two recent casualties have been the reduced availability of funds for public health under framework programme for research (FP7) and the reduction of the amount of money allocated for supporting public health networks under the public health programme, from which EPHA receives an operating grant. These two vital sources of public interest funding are crucial to maintain the thought and leadership behind public health policy in Europe. The discussions for the next framework programme, FP8, and the next public health programme have already begun. As a public health community, we cannot afford to let the opportunity to ensure that public health and well-being are not sufficiently provided for. We will not achieve our 2020 goals without healthy people at the heart of Europe.

Monika Kosinska

Secretary General

Brussels

Read all the online articles from our June 2010 Newsletter.

EPHA members can find the following new information in the Members Only section:

 EPHA briefing on eHealth
 Information to Patients - legislative update
 EPHA Master Class on Campaigning Methods and Tools
 EPHA Briefing note on the European Parliament proposed "Written Declaration on EU Workforce for Health"
 EPHA briefing on Food Aid to Most Deprived Persons (MDP)
 EPHA report on European Parliament event on HIV/AIDS treatment gap widening in Sub-Saharan Africa
 European Parliament hearing on the EU towards the UN summit on the MDGs
 2010 EPHA Annual General Assembly - The Highlights
 article 4107
 *Updated* Crossborder Healthcare Directive adopted
 EPHA Briefing on The Belgian Presidency
 Event report ‘The European Ombudsman and the reform of the EU’s financial rules’
 June 2010 CSCG Meeting

Please note that EPHA’s Summer Newsletter will be shorter. The expected release date is end of August. If an EPHA member would like to highlight their activities in the following newsletter, the submission deadline is Friday, 20 August 2010. Please send any relevant pieces to the EPHA Secretariat.