poverty and health

[EPHA Consultation] Response on sustainable development

EPHA took part in the recent consultation on sustainable development. At the meeting, EPHA suggested a number of ways that health could be promoted in the follow up to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) 2012. EPHA strongly supports the efforts made by the Council to support sustainable development and the Beyond GDP agenda. Moreover, EPHA calls on the Commission to include a health dimension and to give strong political support for progress measures beyond GDP (...)

[Assessment] Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative: European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion

Within the context of a comprehensive assessment of the state of play of the Europe 2020 strategy and its flagship initiatives, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) has started preparing a survey on the ’European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion’, as seen from a regional perspective. The result of this survey will feed into a Conference on the same topic that the CoR will hold on 29 May 2013 in Brussels. The Conference ’European platform against poverty’ (...)

Redefining and combating poverty - human rights, democracy and common goods in today’s Europe

The two-day conference intended to discuss the subject of poverty and inequality in societies with human rights policies, with participants from different backgrounds, bringing together institutional actors, researchers, activists, associations, and networks, as well as people living in poverty and precariousness and other citizens involved in the themes raised by the Conference. The first day of the discussion was devoted to the analysis of the current situation in terms of poverty, (...)

Poverty and inequality in societies of human rights - the paradox of democracies

The two-day conference involved a discussion on the subject of poverty and inequality in societies with human rights policies and brought together institutional actors, researchers, activists, associations, and networks, as well as people living in poverty and precariousness and other citizens involved in the themes raised by the Conference. The first day of the discussion was devoted to the analysis of the current situation in terms of poverty, inequalities and precariousness of living (...)

European Commission’s Social Investment Package for Growth and Cohesion - the Child Poverty dimension

On 20 February, the European Commission presented a Communication on its Social Investment Package for Growth and Cohesion. The initiative aims to help member states use their social budgets more efficiently and effectively by promoting best practices and providing guidance on social investment. Social investment involves strengthening people’s current and future capacities. In particular, social investment helps ’prepare’ people to confront life’s risks, rather (...)

A Greener Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) crucial for Public Health Community

The European Policy Centre (EPC) think tank, in cooperation with the World Wide Fund (WWF) European Policy Office, organised a Policy Dialogue on 14 February, on the topic of ‘What future for the Common Agricultural Policy?’ The European Public Health & Agriculture Consortium (EPHAC) contributed to the debate highlighting the messages of the public health community towards the ongoing CAP reform. Discussions on the common agricultural policy (CAP) are already heated, with (...)

Women and Cardiovascular Disease in the EU

14 February - Valentine’s Day is a good opportunity to think about women’s hearts. On its latest policy briefing, the European Institute of Women’s Health (EIWH) highlighted the key differences between women and men in matters of the heart - such as risk factors, symptoms, treatment and biomedical research. Traditionally regarded as a male disease, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of women worldwide. It is also a major cause of serious illness and (...)

One million signatures for Water as a Human Right!

On February 10, the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) ‘Water is a Human Right’ campaign made history by becoming the first ECI to have collected over 1 million signatures. Ever since the campaign was started last September by the European Federation of Public Service Unions, EPHA and its member organisations have been one of the leading organisation promoting this campaign across Europe. “Reaching this important milestone, with one Million EU citizens agreeing that water (...)

Governments should act in the best interest of stateless children

Citizenship is the “right to have rights”. Without citizenship, one lacks not only political rights, but often social and economic rights as well. On a symbolic level, citizenship implies being a full member of a national community, and even further, of humanity. On his statement Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights argues in favour of the protection of stateless children. Key messages The best interest of the child is to have citizenship There should be no (...)

"On the Way Home" FEANTSA Monitoring Report about progress made on homelessness in Europe

FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless has published a report that monitors progress on homelessness in Europe. This important report focuses on the extent and nature of homelessness in the EU’s member states and analyses policy progress in tackling homelessness over recent years, based on the input of national experts from 21 countries.