Newsletter October 2007

Secretariat News October 2007

Events organised by EPHA
2 October 2007 saw the joint EPHA and HEAL conference on climate change and the challenges for public health: priorities for EU action. Lara and Frazer Goodwin attended the meeting, with Frazer chairing the concluding session of the day. A report of the Meeting can be found at EPHA’s website.
The alcohol and drugs working group meeting took place on 15 October 2007 with different EPHA members. Caroline Bollars and Frazer Goodwin attended and chaired the (...)

Inaugural meeting of the MEP Heart Group on 2 October 2007

On 2 October 2007, the MEP Heart Group held its inaugural meeting, with the support of the European Heart Network (EHN), in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels.
The MEP Heart Group is co-chaired by Dr. Georgs Andrejevs MEP and Dr. Adamos Adamou MEP. It is made up of MEPs who have an interest in addressing Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in the EU and who are interested in contributing to initiatives that aim to reduce the burden of this disease. With over 40 members,the intent is to (...)

Impact of crises and conflict on sexual and reproductive health and rights

On 22 November 2007, the International Planned Parenthood Foundation, European Network (IPPF EN) will organise a seminar in Ljubljana on the "Impact of crises and conflict on sexual and reproductive health and rights: the EU needs to act!".
This seminar is organised by IPPF EN together with Slovene Philanthropy, World Population Found (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Slovenian NGO Platform (SLOGA) and the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The seminar will take place in view of the (...)

Ensuring independent medicines information in Europe

Health Action International (HAI), an EPHA member, organised an open seminar entitled Ensuring independent medicines information in Europe on 12 October 2007, in Brussels.
The seminar was an interactive event on the issue of medicinal information in Europe, thereby relaunching the debate on Direct-To-Consumer-Advertising (DTCA).
On this occasion, HAI invited different speakers such as representatives of the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC), Association Internationale de la (...)

FUNDAMED presents “II Best In Class” awards on attention to patient

The fundación de ciencias del medicamento y productos sanitarios (FUNDAMED), an EPHA member, will organise in collaboration with La Gaceta Médica, the second “Best in Class” (BIC) on medical assistance award ceremony on 8 November 2007, in Valencia (Spain).
The “Best in Class” awards are part of an innovative initiative that aims to publicly recognize the efforts of the director teams and hospital professionals to improve and give to patients the best possible (...)

New Executive Committee members for EFN

On the occasion of its General Assembly on 13-14 September 2007, the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN), the EFN Members elected a new President: Ms Grete Christensen.
Ms Christensen has been Vice president of the Danish Nurses Association since 1998, President of Healthcare Professionals Unemployment Fund since 2000, and an active Member of the EFN Executive Committee since 2005. She succeeds Annette Kennedy.
EFN Members also elected a Treasurer: Mr. Pierre Théraulaz (...)

**Updated** The SAFE Project draws to a close

The three year, European wide collaboration on sexual and reproductive rights for young people through the ’SAFE Project’ came to an end at a closing conference in Brussels on 8/9 October 2007.
http://www.ysafe.net/SAFE/index.php... The European Commission funded project, “Sexual Awareness for Europe (SAFE): A European Partnership to promote the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of young people”, was a partnership between the International Planned Parenthood (...)

Questions raised about the health impact of electromagnetic fields

The BioInitiative Working Group, an international group of scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals, has published in collaboration with the European Environment Agency (EEA), a new report which raises concerns about the negative effects of electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones, power lines and other sources, and calls for new safety standards.
The report, “Bioinitiative: A Rationale for a Biologically-Based Public Exposure Standard for Electromagnetic (...)

EPHA and HEAL conference on Climate Change and Public Health

EPHA and HEAL conference held on climate change and the challenges for Publci Health: priorities for EU Action.

**Updated** MEPs emphasize health and environment with pesticide regulation

New EU legislation on pesticides was approved with amendments by the European Parliament on 23 October 2007. Parliament supported the ban on aerial pesticides and the prohibition of use of pesticides in buffer zones around water.
MEPs voted to revise the criteria and procedures for approving pesticides. The purpose of the legislation is to:
improve protection of health and the environment
support farming
reduce animal testing
boost competition among pesticide manufacturers.
No (...)

"Communicating Europe in Partnership": EU information priorities

The European Commission has presented proposals for "Communicating Europe in Partnership", a document proposes joint communication priorities with other EU institutions and voluntary management partnerships with Member States.
Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy said that citizens want clear information from the EU institutions and that it’s time to end the blame game and work together.
Built on (...)

The European Transparency Initiative: where are we now and what lies ahead?

Two years after European Transparency Initiative, the European Commission is about to launch the first-ever EU lobbying disclosure system. Unfortunately, no major improvements have been announced on the side of the European Parliament.
Following the European Transparency Initiative launched in 2005, the European Commission proposed in March 2007 to set up a voluntary register of lobbyists active in Brussels. Lobbyists and lobbying associations signing up to the register are required to (...)

Portuguese Presidency organises conferences on migrants and health and social services

Health and Migration in the EU - better health for all in an inclusive society
A major initiative of the Portuguese Presidency in the field of health, has been the conference "Health and Migration in the EU - better health for all in an inclusive society", held in Lisbon on 27 and 28 September.
The conference aimed at mobilizing Member States, national and international organizations, and some NGOs, to discuss proposals for interventions that would promote health, prevent disease, and (...)

MEPs acknowledge need for comprehensive strategy to control cancer

The European Parliament adopted a written declaration that addresses the need for a comprehensive strategy to fight cancer so that it will no longer be the leading cause of death in Europe.
The written declaration has been signed by more than half of the MEPs, which is the required number for a declaration to be adopted. In addition to cancer being the leading cause of death in Europe, one-third of all cancers are preventable and can be detected early and successfully treated.
The (...)

**UPDATED** IGC talks on Reform Treaty: Health provisions at stake!

EPHA’s comments on the on-going Treaty revision are based on the experience of campaigning during the debate on the drafting of the Treaty. Individual EPHA members working at national or regional levels may have a different viewpoint. This is not a legal, scientific nor academic interpretation.
Updated with the changes announced at the June 2007 Council Summit and the agreement reached by Member States on 19 October 2007.
This article compares the legal provisions on public health of the (...)

**Updated** 2007 IGC talks: EU leaders reach agreement on a ’Reform Treaty’

On 19 October 2007, the 27 Member States finally reached agreement on the text of the Reform Treaty which will be formally adopted on 13 December in Lisbon, Portugal.
In June, EU leaders agreed on the mandate for the 2007 Inter-governmental conference (IGC), to draft the Reform Treaty after the ’Constitutional Treaty’ of 2004 was rejected by popular referenda in France and the Netherlands. The final text differs from the original mandate in several areas.
The Reform Treaty
After much (...)

A re-balancing of EU subsidies for school milk programmes

On 26 September 2007, the Council adopted a package of measures that will introduce a flat-rate subsidy for the European school milk scheme. This means that for the first time, skim milk distribution will have the same financial support as full fat milk. It is hoped that this will contribute towards reducing childhood obesity by enabling schools to provide healthier milk options without losing money.
As the EU is increasingly concerned about the public health effects of the Common (...)

*Updated* EU Mini-Chefs contest winners

This article has been updated with information about the "European Day of Healthy Food and Cooking."
http://eu.mini-chefs.eu/pdf/contest... Children from a Romanian school won the EU Mini-Chef drawing contest. Their artwork was produced as a poster advertising the campaign of the European Day for Healthy Food and Cooking, which was celebrated on 8 November 2007. In preparation for the European Day for Healthy Food and Cooking, the drawing contest was launched and directed toward children (...)

Conference on the role of the internet in medicine

The University of Vienna will hold final conference of the project “Virtually Informed: The Internet in the medical field” on 25-26 January 2008.
The conference is organised by the Department of Social Studies and its aim is to investigate the role and impact of the World Wide Web as a health information source in the Austrian medical context.
Concretely, issues as the notion of “informed patient” will be contrasted with the doubts of policy makers about people’s (...)

Health Impact Assessment is increasingly used by policy-makers

The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies has launched the book "The Effectiveness of Health Impact Assessment: Scope and limitations of supporting decision-making in Europe", on 16 October 2007.
The book is the result of a 3-year research project involving 22 teams from 19 countries, funded under the EU Public health work programme.
Health impact assessment (HIA) is a support tool for intersectoral policy-making. It is used to assess the potential health consequences of (...)

Hepatitis: where do we stand?

On the occasion of the fourth annual world hepatitis awareness day, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) draws attention to the current state of play of viral hepatitis.
According to the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), hepatitis C is the most common form of viral hepatitis in the EU. More than 29,000 cases were reported in 2005 against 6,800 for hepatitis B. In both cases, males are generally more affected than women. (...)

International Day of Older Persons and Mental Health – October 2007

The United Nations celebrated the International Day of Older Persons on 1 October 2007 with the theme of "Improving the life quality of older people". The World Health Organisation(WHO) also launched the WHO Global Age-friendly Cities Guide and organised several events around the world.
The WHO 10 October 2007 has marked the fifteenth annual commemoration of World Mental Health Day. The theme of this year, “Mental Health in a Changing World: The impact of Culture and Diversity”, (...)

New report on nicotine addiction

The Royal College of Physicians has released a publication entitled: "Harm reduction in nicotine addiction: helping people who can’t quit" on October 2007.
http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/pubs/con... Compiled by leading experts in the field and the Tobacco Advisory Group, this report promotes the use of harm reduction strategies to protect smokers. The report demonstrates that people smoke for the nicotine, which by itself is not very harmful. The study suggests that if nicotine could (...)

Commission facing compensation claims for second hand smoke death

A European Union Civil Service Tribunal is to hear a claim for compensation from the widow of a Commission official who died of cancer

Major review of child safety in 18 countries

On 20 November 2007, the European Child Safety Alliance plans to launch a major review of child safety in 18 European countries.
The aim of this launch is to communicate the safety review findings to influential policy makers and stakeholders at both the EU and national level so that they can take action. The launch will take place in the European Parliament and will be hosted by MEP Arlene McCarthy, Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.
In addition to (...)

Mission accomplished: one million signatures

Launched in January 2007, the European Disability Forum has met their challenge of collecting one million signatures across the European Union in support of comprehensive EU disability legislation.
Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum, announced this landmark accomplishment and noted the importance of such a strong signal from over one million Europeans to the European Union leaders, which cannot be ignored.
The campaign called on the European Union for (...)

European Parliament addresses antibiotic resistance

John Bowis, MEP, hosted a lunch debate on 16 October 2007 in the European Parliament on combating increases in antibiotic resistance. Along with parliamentarians, the event bought together experts from Member States, the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. They discussed the large discrepancies between antibiotic resistance prevalence across the EU and what could be done to reduce it.
The prevalence of antibiotic resistance varies widely across (...)