Newsletter June 2008

Newsletter June 2008

Welcome to the June EPHA newsletter.
France took over the EU Presidency on 1 July and President Sarkozy’s grand plans to ’get the EU back on track were immediately derailed by the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty by voters in Ireland. The Brussels establishment is still recovering from the defeat, and the institutional future is uncertain.
In June, EPHA organised its Annual General Meeting which was well attended by members and involved lively exchanges of views on governance, strategy and (...)

Spotlight on Cancer Research UK (CRUK)

Who are we?
Cancer Research UK is the world’s largest independent organisation dedicated to cancer research, with a research spend of over £315 million in 2006/07. Our vision is that together we will beat cancer. We carry out world-class research to improve our understanding of cancer and to find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different types of the disease. We support research into all aspects of cancer through the work of more than 4,250 scientists, doctors and nurses. We (...)

Spotlight on the Meningitis Trust

Who are we?
The Meningitis Trust is the largest European organisation committed to providing practical and emotional support to sufferers of meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia.
Who do we represent?
The Meningitis Trust represents and supports those people affected by meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia, their families and carers, as well as the healthcare professionals who are concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of these conditions.
What is our mission?
The (...)

Secretariat News June 2008

EPHA working meetings
This month EPHA participated in both the Sherpa meeting on High Level Group of the Agro Food Industry Competitiveness and the High Level Group itself. Please read a report of the meetings on the EPHA website, members only.
On 23 June, EPHA had a meeting with the European Center for Disease and Control (ECDC) to discuss joint advocacy on raising awareness on the use of antibiotics in Europe.
EPHA Working Groups The EPHA Food and Nutrition Working Group met on 4 June (...)

The European Federation of Nurses Associations welcomes initiative on the "Health Systems Charter"

European Federation of Nurses Association calls on Member States of the WHO European Region to achieve the Health System Charter objectives.
The European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) welcomes the WHO European Region initiative on the "Health Systems Charter". In order to achieve the Health System Charter objectives, EFN calls on the Member States of WHO European Region to:
Ensure an effective Stakeholder Approach at national and European level, involving nurses and nursing in (...)

Housing rights: Breakthrough ruling by the Council of Europe

The Council of Europe body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the European Social Charter, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), reached the decision that France is in violation of the Charter with regard to housing rights.
The ECSR - the Council of Europe’s body responsible for the implementation of the European Social Charter - has ruled that France is not in conformity with Article 31 of the Charter on six grounds. These include the poor implementation of, or (...)

Spotlight on the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP)

Who are we?
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) is a working community of national associations of hospital pharmacists created in 1972, originally in France. Its membership includes more than 21,100 professionals. EAHP’s aim is to establish a common pharmaceutical policy in Europe. It represents the interest of the profession at the European level, contributes to the scientific development of hospital pharmacy and to the advancement of the position and role of the (...)

Spotlight on the European Chiropractors’ Union (ECU)

Who are we?
The European Chiropractors’ Union (‘ECU’) is a voluntary organisation, formed in 1932 by a small number of chiropractors then practising in Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden Switzerland and the United Kingdom. At the time the number of chiropractors across Europe was no more than 100. After the war years, there was a resurgence of interest in the 1950’s following recognition of the right to practice in Switzerland.
Who do we represent?
It now represents (...)

Update on EPHA membership, June 2008

This article is updated when more information is available. If you wish to find out more about its content, please contact Murielle Chiltz
New members 2008
Following the Annual General Assembly which took place on 19 June 2008, 8 new members joined EPHA.
Action for Smoking and Health (UK),
Alcohol Focus Scotland (UK),
Coalition of Association in Healthcare (Croatia),
Cyprus Turkish Medical Association (Cyprus),
Malta Health Network (Malta),
Slovene Coalition for Public Health (...)

New EU NGO Directory: EPHA calls NGOs to register

EPHA is undertaking an NGO mapping project, funded by the European commission. The aim is to create a directory of NGOs in Europe working in the field of health, and will go live later this year.
The new European health NGO Directory is a directory that will contain information on all European and national level NGOs working in the field of health. The development of the directory has been funded by the European Commission who sees this as an invaluable tool for consulting civil society. (...)

*Updated* PGEU lunchtime Parliamentary debate on Adherence to medicines in Europe

PGEU, the organisation representing European Community Pharmacists, organised a lunchtime debate hosted by MEP Mojca Drčar Murko to debate how can EU policy contribute to improving adherence to medicines in Europe. A number of MEPs, representatives of patients’ and health professionals’ organisations and of the Pharmaceutical industry, prominent researchers as well as some of Europe’s pharmacy leaders, participated to the event.
On the occasion of the lunch debate, PGEU launched its (...)

EPHA Annual General Assembly - 19 June 2008 - Brussels

The EPHA Annual General Assembly (AGA) took place on 19 June 2008 in Brussels.
The 2008 Annual General Assembly (AGA) and Policy Coordination Meeting (PCM) took place at North West of England House, Brussels on 19 June.
The morning was taken up with approval of the accounts, discussion of the annual report and voting on new members. 7 of the 8 candidate organisations were accepted. Information on new members will be published shortly.
At the end of the morning there was a vote for new (...)

*Update* RCP event: "Global Health: Current Issues, Future Trends and Foreign Policy"

http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/index.asp
On Tuesday 29 April 2008, the Royal College of Physicians held an event entitled "Global Health: Current Issues, Future Trends and Foreign Policy"
The event explored the growing UK debate on global health, with updates on communicable and chronic disease. The conference discussed the latest UK Government initiatives and publications. Experts from the clinical and policy worlds examined the role the UK has to play through its foreign policy.
The summary (...)

The Second Citizens AGORA: Climate Change.

The second citizens Agora took place on the 12th-13th of June 2008. The Agora is originally a ancient Greek word for an open citizens debate, this being the idea behind the current Agoras.
The first Agora, as previously reported by EPHA, had the heady title of ’The Future of Europe’ and as many agreed was far too broad a topic. This second Agora was on the marginally slimmer topic of Climate Change.
Gerard Onesta, Vice-President of the European Parliament and architect of the Agora, opened (...)

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) inaugurated

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) was officially opened on 3 June. Located in Helsinki, ECHA is responsible for managing the implementation of the REACH requirements in relation to the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction processes of chemical substances.
ECHA formally began its activities a year ago and its work has been devoted to intensive preparations, including staff recruitment and establishing support structures and procedures. On 1st June 2008 two key (...)

Council adopts a legislative package aimed at facilitating free movements of goods in the EU.

On 23 June 2008, the European Council adopted a package of legal instruments dealing with the "mutual recognition" principle and with the "new approach" system.
The new package has the role to improve free movement of goods within the internal market by removing barriers to trade and enhancing competitiveness and safety for consumers. EPHA is concerned that this package does not take into account the possible concerns of European citizens following the policy impact of these instruments. (...)

Conclusions from the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting 9-10 June, 2008

The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) met on 10 June. It was agreed that an intensified, structured cooperation between the Council and the Commission is the key to achieving strategy goals and resolving other important issues according to the EU Health Strategy adopted in October 2007.
On the first day of the EPSCO meeting, 9 of June, the Health Ministers of the EU member states confirmed the proposal to change the mandate of the high-level group on (...)

Upcoming three Presidencies and their focus on health, 2008-2011

The future French, Czech and Swedish Presidencies released their draft 18-month programme. This article outlines their priorities on health as mentioned in the draft programme. In the programme, the three Presidencies commit to actively promote work in the public health area, with the aim to contribute to a high level of health for all citizens.
EU action can bring added value to patients and health systems alike, especially in the context of increasing mobility. Patients’ safety and the (...)

Medical Liability: the Council of Europe intends to establish standards

After a two-day conference in Strasbourg from 2 to 3 June, which was attended by doctors, insurers, lawyers and representatives of civil society, the Council of Europe has been invited to establish new European standards for medical liability.
On the basis of the discussions at the Conference, the Council of Europe intends to draw up standards for all its 47 member states, focusing on alternative dispute resolution (including mediation and conciliation), and provide guidelines covering risk (...)

DG Sanco Director General lecture on the ethics of health policy

CHES, the Coalition for Health, Ethics and Society, held its annual lecture on Thursday the 5th of June 2008 on ’The Role of Ethics in Shaping Health Policy’ Chaired by the European Policy Centre. The talk was given by the for the European Commission, Robert Madelin.
Mr Madelin gave an very clear and impressive talk on the issues facing the integration of Health policy with economic policy and the ethical implications.
He started out by saying that health is a relatively young issue in (...)

Public health at the fore in European elections June 2009?

As part of our preparations for the elections in 2009, the EPHA Secretariat has been contacting the major European political groups to include public health in their priorities and manifestos.
Although most party’s were receptive to EPHA input, the only European party preparing its manifesto at this time is the European Socialists PES with a broad European Manifesto->http://manifesto2009.pes.org/en].
EPHA was given the opportunity to present three main public health goals in the PES (...)

EU leaders agree action to improve global health

At the European Council Meeting on 20 June, EU leaders reaffirmed their commitments to increase aid to developing countries as well as agreeing an Agenda for Action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals .

What can be expected from the French EU Presidency?

From 1 July to 31 December 2008, France will hold the EU Presidency, therefore the responsibility to organise and chair the European Council meetings. The French government has already announced that its motto will be "a more protective Europe".
From 1 July to 31 December 2008, France will organise and chair the European Council meetings. It will take over Slovenia and will hand over to the Czech Republic in 2009.
The French government has already announced that its motto will be "a more (...)

*Update with the Environment Ministers Council* Agreement on GMO approval overhaul

The EU environment ministers have supported a proposal from France to overhaul EU’s approval process for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). *Update* On 20 October 2008, EU environment ministers continued to disagree on whether Member States should be allowed to establish GMO-free zones for sensitive areas, although they did concur on the need for better long-term environmental risk assessment of GMOs.
On the 5th of June 2008, the EU environment ministers decided that risk assessment (...)

ALDE Public Hearing on Efficient Food Labelling in Fighting Obesity

On 11 June the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) held a public hearing on the issue of food labelling in relation to obesity.
On 11 June the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) held a public hearing on the issue of food labelling in relation to obesity- organized by MEPs Magor Imre Csibi and Jules Maaten.
The speakers were Basil Mathioudakis from the European Commission (EC), Kees de Winter from European Consumers’ Organization-> (BEUC), Sabine (...)

EU food safety Agency aims for more transparency

Amid growing criticism of its GMO bias and growing overall workload, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has decided to develop a database of external scientific experts to help the agency carry out risk assessments and enhance the transparency of the expert recruitment process.
The Agency could also hire non-EU experts if they are leaders in their field. The scientist database will be available to all the 27 EU countries, who may use it to select experts for their own scientific (...)

Germany supports the Traffic Light Scheme

The German minister for Consumer Protection Horst Seehofer expresses support for the Traffic Light Scheme after poll results.
After the United Kingdom (UK) introduced the Traffic Light Scheme, convinced of its benefits in guiding consumers’ food choices based on available evidence, now Germany finds supporting evidence for its advantages.
A poll, conducted on behalf of the German Ministry of Consumer Protection, has showed that more that half of the respondents would be influenced, when (...)

Own-initiative report on obesity adopted unanimously by European Parliament

The disturbing trend of rising obesity rates must be stopped, said the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) in a new report giving suggestions on how to approach the problem.
The ENVI Committee adopted an own-initiative report on obesity by MEP Alessandro Foglietta, unanimously.
Obesity has great costs on both quality of life and the economy. It already accounts, directly, for about 6% of health spending but the indirect costs are much higher, (...)

The European Foundation Centre launches European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding

The European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding will help support philanthropic funding for research by exchanging experiences and best practice, developing cooperation on research funding, and promoting a favourable environment for foundation and private philanthropic activities. The Forum is supported by the European Commission and individual funders.
The European Foundation Centre (EFC)
The European Foundation Centre (EFC) is an international association of foundations and (...)

UK publishes new guideline for managing type 2 Diabetes

In 2002, the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a suite of five guidelines dealing with different aspects of the care of type 2 diabetes. A new guideline published in 2008 is part of a series commissioned by NICE which aims to ensure that standards of care throughout England and Wales are uniformly high.
The National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions (NCC-CC) at theRoyal College of Physicians UK was asked by NICE to produce this guide, (...)

Quick Guide to EU Funds for the period 2007-2013

The ’Quick Guide to EU Funds’ presents the new Community priorities, programmes and other funding opportunities available since 1 January 2007.
The Quick Guide to EU Funds presents selected programmes as a response to the demand for practical and comprehensive information in an easily accessible format. The guide presents the new Community priorities, programmes and other funding opportunities available since 1 January 2007.
The guide provides information regarding the different types of (...)

World Health Statististics 2008

The World Health Organisation has recently published its fourth edition of the World Health Statistics report for 2008.
The document presents the most recent health statistics for the 193 member states of the WHO. This edition includes 10 highlights in health statistics and provides the trend data where applicable.
The document is available online at the WHO website where you can download it in full or in (...)

So that eating rhymes with public health, June 2008

EPHA participated as speaker during Confrontation Europe’s conference in the European Parliament on 5 and 6 June 2008 to discuss eating and public health impacts.
A welcome speech was given by Jean-Marie Beaupuy, Member of the European Parliament (France) and an introduction by Claude Fischer, Director of Entretiens Européens.
The keynote speech was given by Dr. Francois Decaillet, representative of the World Health Organisation to the European Union. He provided a diagnosis of public (...)

Global Smokefree Partnership (GSP) Launches Smoke Free Olympics Campaign

GSP is launching a campaign to strengthen global awareness and support for a strong and sustainable Smokefree Olympics policy at the summer 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, China.
The GSP has written an Open Letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) requesting the introduction of a compulsory 100% smokefree policy for all Olympic Games.
GSP is now gathering signatures from international organisations working on health, sport and youth issues, before presenting the letter to the IOC (...)

New focus on Europe’s mental health

The European Pact for Mental Health launched the 13th of June, calling for partnership in action.
At the High Level Conference on Mental Health in Brussels on 13 June, Commissioner for Health Androulla Vassilou launched a new pact for mental health. The pact is the fruit of collaboration between the European Commission, the Slovenian Presidency and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. The Pact aims to develop commonly supported recommendations in five areas:
Prevention (...)

World No Tobacco Day 2008 - Call to ban all tobacco adverts

During the World No Tobacco Day 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on governments to ban all tobacco advertising to help prevent young people taking up the habit.
On 31 May 2008 - World No Tobacco Day 2008, the WHO accused manufacturers of using increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques to ensare young people, particularly girls in poorer countries. The UN agency says the more they are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely people will start smoking.
The (...)

Intellectual Property and Competition in European and global pharmaceutical markets

This article is a contribution from Health Action International (HAI) Europe, an EPHA member and is written by Sophie Bloemen.
For more information, please have a look at the HAI website
At last, the message is getting through to politicians and policy-makers that an inflexible system of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) can have a detrimental effect on public health systems. In its current form, the IPR model has produced some unwelcome consequences for access to essential medicines (...)

EMEA press workshop on Information to Patients

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) held a workshop with the media on the 9 June 2008
Thomas Lonngren, Director of the chief European medicines regulator said that the information leaflets in medicines packaging is scaring patients out of taking their medicines. He said that a more positive messaging is needed to encourage patients to take their medicines.
"We should reconsider how we are writing the packaging leaflet so they (patients) can see the benefit (of the drug)." Mr Lonngren (...)

More money for health Aid better spent

Action for Global Health launched their report "Healthy Aid" in six countries on 18 June 2008. The report examines how health aid effectiveness could be improved, and includes six country case studies exploring how the "Paris Principles" on aid effectiveness have been applied in the health sector.