Newsletter August 2006

EPHA’s project: Building the public health community across Europe

In response to DG SANCO’s call for proposals under the EU Public Health Programme, EPHA submittted a major project proposal in May 2003 entitled ’Building the public health community across Europe’.
EPHA carried out this project in partnership with the following organisations:
EPHA Environment Network (EEN)
Open Society Institutes Network: Public Health Programme
Civic Alliance Latvia (CAL)
The Netherlands Institute for Long Term Care - Vilans
The Royal Society for the Prevention of (...)

Faculty of Public Health tackles salt intake and industry

The Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians of the UK has published a position paper on salt which sets out the implications for citizen’s health if current levels of intake persist.
The position statement also outlines what need to happen to ensure that salt levels are reduced and public health protected.
The Faculty is calling for continued concerted action across all sectors, including public, governmental and non-governmental, and, critically, industry to ensure (...)

Open Forum on Key Issues in Tuberculosis Drug Development

The Second Open Forum on Key Issues in Tuberculosis (TB) Drug Development will take place in London on December 12 - 13, 2006.
This two day meeting will focus on regulatory issues in TB drug development and will include topics such as:
Update of the Global TB Drug Development Portfolio
Key Issues in the Critical Path to TB Drug Registration
Biomarkers for TB Drug Development
Design and Challenges for Pivotal Trials
Developing Regimens Containing (...)

Health Action International 25th Anniversary Conference on people-centered medicines

On the 26 and 27 October, Health Action International - an EPHA member - celebrates its 25th Anniversary with a special Conference on "Pills, Politics and Practice: demanding people-centred medicines policy in the 21st century".
The conference will explore HAI’s core areas of work: 1. Access to essential medicines 2. Rational use of medicines 3. Democratisation of medicines policy
During the conference, will be released a booklet about HAI past achievements and examples of best practices. (...)

Conference on Natural medicines in Europe

The Association of Natural Medicines in Europe - ANME organises a conference on the situation of natural medicines in the European Union context. It takes place in Frankfurt (Germany) on the 11 November 2006.
While discussions on health care costs and reimbursement structures are going on, while regulations on pharmaceuticals are being released, some of them threatening the test certificate of natural drugs, CAM is neglected in the debate on health policy.
But if health systems are to (...)

Commission bans 22 hair dye substances to increase consumer safety

Amid concerns of potential bladder cancer risks, the European Commission has banned 22 hair dye substances. The ban is based upon the recommendations of the Scientific Committee of Consumer Products (SCCP) advising the Commission following the conclusions of a scientific study on the long term use of certain hair dyes.
In a public consultation, the Commission had asked producers to provide safety files for their substances. These files, based on scientific expertise, have to prove that a (...)

Agoras to increase dialogue between citizens and the European Parliament

European Parliamentarians are considering creating regular ’agoras’, or fora for citizens to debate draft laws, in an effort to bring citizens closer to the EU.
The move follows rejection of Europe’s proposed Constitutional Treaty in 2005. The push for ’agoras’ was initiated by the parliament’s vice president, French Green MEP Gerard Onesta.
Under his proposal, the parliament would organise five or six fora per year, with a total of 1,800 participants discussing current legislative issues. (...)

Law making in the Council to be more transparent

*Latest update: adoption by the European Parliament of David Hammerstein Mintz report calling to increase Council transparency*
The decision-making process in the European Council is often seen as not being transparent. The European Parliament, the European Ombudsman and the Civil Society Contact Group are acting to end secrecy and lack of transparency in the European Council decision-making processes.
The European Parliament campaign MEPs Chris Davies, Nigel Farage, Timothy Kirkhope, Jean (...)

Structural Funds: another resource to support healthier policies?

After 2 years in the legislative pipeline, the European Union has finally adopted the Structural Funds package for 2007 - 2013, laying down the provisions to spend the 308 billion Euros (around 35% of the total EU budget), allocated to reduce disparities across the Union and to promote greater economic, social and territorial cohesion.
For more information on the cohesion policy and structural funds, read EPHA briefing note
The package consists of 5 different regulations: 1. A general (...)

*UPDATED* Towards banning junk food advertising? The UK debates

*UPDATED with the results of the consultations:* The British media regulator OFCOM ruling bans junk food advertising during programmes targeted at under-16s. However, health advocates feel these restrictions are not enough. The debate is closely linked with European revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive.
After extensive research and public consultation, Ofcom, have put forward restrictions which are intended to limit children’s exposure to television advertising of food and (...)

*Updated*Promotion of healthy food in Latvia’s schools

The Latvian government has introduced thougher limits to the availability of unhealthy foods at schools and kindergardens by establishing nutrient profiles.
Existing health and safety legislation regarding schools and kindergardens, introduced by the Ministry of Health, has been amended to include reference to the availability of junk food in these settings.
According to recent data, the food for sale in educational institutions has become more and more unhealthy. As a direct consequence, (...)

European Commission Reclaims Millions from Member States...Again

Just a couple of months ago, in August 2006, the European Commission found that a total of €161.9 million of EU farm money was misspent by Member States and must be reimbursed.
Now in October 2006 it appears that the Commission has decided to recover a much larger figure of money. The revised total of €317.3 million is almost twice the original sum.
Similar to the August fiasco, the money will be recovered because of inadequate control procedures or non-compliance with EU rules on (...)

The EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health - An Insider’s Perspective

Obesity is one of the most serious health challenges facing Europe today. European Union (EU) citizens are exercising too little and eating too much - too much energy, too many calories, too much fat and sugar, and salt. The main consequence is a sustained, acute EU-wide increase in overweight and obesity. The increase is particularly severe for children and adolescents.
The EU has an important role to play in containing or reversing the current trend. EU policy affects food safety, (...)

New EU legislation on food additives, flavourings and enzymes

The European Commission has adopted proposals, which aim to clarify and update the current legislation in food enzymes, food additives and flavours and bring the rules into line with the latest scientific developments.
In addition, the proposal creates a simplified common approval procedure for food additives, flavourings and enzymes, which would include safety evaluations from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
It aims to establish a positive list of allowed food additives and to (...)

EFSA Conference on Health and Nutrition Claims, November 2006

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will hold a scientific conference on health and nutritional claims, in Bologna, November 8-10.
The conference aims to explain EFSA’s scientific role within the context of new EU legislation on nutrition and health claims.
The emphasis of the three-day conference will be on the advantages and limitations of different systems for nutritional profiling as well as on the scientific substantiation of claims.
Attendance is limited to 200 people. As EFSA (...)

**Updated** WHO European Ministerial Conference on Obesity, November 2006

The WHO European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe and hosted by the Government of Turkey, took place in Istanbul on 15-17 November 2006.
The Conference aimed to place obesity high on the public health and political agendas, in order to foster greater awareness and high-level political commitment towards action and to promote international and intersectoral partnerships.
During the Conference, (...)

Assessing the health impact of Agriculture policies in the EU and the US

The Swedish Institute for Public Health issued a health impact assessment on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), which has recently been complemented by an equivalent report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in the United States of America.
Both reports demonstrate that agriculture policies on both sides of the Atlantic do not contribute to healthier diets at the moment.
Ahead of the CAP reform in 2008, the Common Market Organisation on wine is already in discussion and (...)

*UPDATED* The Revised "Television Without Frontiers" Directive - the public health concerns

A proposal to update the EU’s 1989 "TV without Frontiers" Directive, to keep pace with rapid market developments in Europe’s audiovisual sector, was tabled by the European Commission in December 2005. Among other things, it will regulate advertising on television.
On 13 December 2005, after several public consultations, the European Commission adopted the legislative proposal for the revision of the “Television Without Frontiers” Directive (Directive 97/36/EC). The Commission (...)

*UPDATED* Green Paper on a European Transparency Initiative

**UPDATED with EPHA response** The long awaited Green Paper on a European Transparency Initiative has been adopted in May 2006.
The Green Paper aims to strengthen etchics rules for EU policy-makers and the estimated 15,000 lobbyists, NGOs and other pressure groups who seek to influence them in Brussels.
In a Nutshell... The European Commission adopted the Green Paper on a European Transparency Initiative on 3 May 2006. The European Transparency Initiative aims to strengthen etchics rules (...)

*UPDATED* The WHO seeks views on alcohol consumption

**Updated with the EPHA response and a model response for other NGOs.* The World Health Organisation is seeking views and opinions of stakeholders on health problems related to alcohol consumption. The deadline for answers is the 15 September 2006.
The WHO invites academic institutions, research departments, professional associations, NGOs and representatives of the industry, trade and agricultural sectors to express their opinion on the type of interventions that are needed at nationale, (...)

EMIP Project partners meeting, Tallinn, Estonia, 22-23 September

The country partners and Consortium members of the project EMIP (Implementation of mental health promotion and prevention policies and strategies in EU member states and applicant countries) will gather on 22 and 23 September in Tallinn, Estonia, for a final project meeting.
The project brings together eight European networks and twelve national partners committed to sharing models of good practice on mental health promotion and prevention of mental ill-health.
The final meeting in (...)

Building a Strategy for Patient Safety in Europe

Safety Improvement for Patients in Europe (SIMPATIE) holds a two-day conference entitled ’Building a Strategy for Patient Safety in Europe’ on 18-19 September 2006 in Luxembourg.
The conference aims to have Consensus on a Strategy Framework for Patient Safety in Europe.
The target audience will include different groups of experts in the field of patient safety:
Simpatie expert group
National authorities/governments
International organizations (Council of Europe, WHO, OECD)
Members of (...)

What are the leading causes of death in the EU?

A report by the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, illustrates mortality data by cause for the Member States of the European Union. It also indicates that the leading cause of death differs greatly between the 25 Member States at national and regional levels.
According to statistics:
two thirds of deaths in the EU are caused by circulatory diseases and cancer.
Heart attacks, strokes and other circulatory diseases account for 41% of all deaths.
Cancer is responsible for 25% of all (...)

Accessing Health: The Context and the Challenges for LGBT People in Central and Eastern Europe

The International Gay and Lesbian Association Europe (ILGA - Europe) has issued a report entitled Accessing Health: the Context and the Challenges for LGBT People in Central and Eastern Europe.
The report, in the form of a research project, is the first of its size and scope to be carried out among lesbian, gay, bissexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova and Romania. As such, the data collected will serve to inform ongoing advocacy (...)

MSF Fact Sheet on Children and HIV/AIDS

The Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Access to Essential Medicines campaign have created a 4-page Fact Sheet on Children and HIV/AIDS.
The publication urges players in HIV/AIDS treatment field to better facilitate access for children to antiretroviral therapy.
MSF makes a number of recommendations, specifically:
WHO and UNICEF should develop a clear strategy to ensure that greater numbers of children receive antiretrovirals;
Pharmaceutical companies should facilitate access for children to (...)

Rising health costs put pressure on public finances

According to OECD Health Data 2006, health spending continues to rise in OECD countries, growing faster than GDP in every OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - country (except Finland) between 1990 and 2004.
In most OECD countries, the bulk of healthcare costs is financed through taxes, with 73% of health spending on average publicly funded in 2004. Ensuring sustainable financing of health systems is therefore critical for governments, as health spending as a share (...)