impact assessment

European Innovation Partnership on Healthy & Active Ageing - results of the workshops on Care and Cure

On 23-24 June 2011, EPHA attended a workshop on ‘’Care and Cure’’ as part of a series of topical seminars on the European Innovation Partnership on Healthy and Active Ageing. The workshop covered three themes, ‘’Integrated Care’’, ‘’Chronic Conditions Management’’, and ‘’Evidence, Cost-effectiveness and Cost-efficiency’’. It identified a number of objectives for each theme in order to enhance (...)

European Commission report on socio-economic aspects of GMO cultivation in Europe

The European Commission report on the socio-economic implicatoin of GMO cultivation reveals that the existing information is often statistically limited. Background In December 2008, the Environmental Council of Ministers requested the European Commission to collect and exchange relevant information on socio-economic implications of cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) along the food chain in the European Union. Key findings The experience with GMO cultivation in Europe (...)

MEPs want EU countries to be able to ban GMOs on environmental grounds

After MEPs from the Environment Committee, at the plenary sitting in Strasbourg (5 July 2011) all MEPs agree to give Member States a choice of whether to ban or restrict GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) crops on their territory, adding environmental impacts to a European Commission’s list of grounds on which restrictions could be introduced. The European Commission issued in July 2010 a proposal for a regulation to revise the the current framework regarding the cultivation of (...)

Noise pollution a critical public health problem, new WHO report says

WHO Europe released a new assessment on the burden of disease from environmental pollution - in particular from noise pollution, which shows that noise especially from road traffic, railways and airports is a critical public health problem: it is the second biggest environmental problem affecting health after air pollution. The report on the burden of diseases from noise from the WHO Europe shows that over 1 million healthy years of life are lost every year in the western countries of WHO (...)

EPHA Annual Conference: "Europe 2020 : Delivering a healthy and sustainable future for all?" 14 April 2011

The European Public Health Alliance organises its 2011 Annual Conference on the 14 April 2011 in Brussels - "Europe 2020 : Delivering a healthy and sustainable future for all ?" The Conference will discuss whether the EU leading strategy (Europe 2020) is set to achieve better health outcomes or if it threatens to increase health inequalities. The event gathers experts from across Europe to discuss the impact of specific EU 2020 policies on equality within our societies and the effects (...)

Council Conclusions on the Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion

Social Affairs Ministers adopted conclusions on the European platform against poverty and social exclusion, establishing their position on the key elements of one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Platform will be the main framework for action at EU level to combat poverty to meet the EU target of lifting 20 million people out of poverty. On the 7 March 2011, Ministers of Social Affairs met in the EPSCO Council and highlighted that 1 out of 6 people are at (...)

EPHA and EPHAC analysis of the EP reports on the Common Agriculture Policy

The European Parliament works on its position on the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). Based on its position on the reform of the CAP, EPHA and EPHAC (the European Public Health and Agriculture Consortium) have made an analysis of the draft reports of the European Parliament The EP draft report on the CAP towards 2020 was pubished by the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development on Febuary 15. The draft report was prepared by Albert Dess MEP (Germany, EPP). The main (...)

DG SANCO meeting of the Advisory Group on the Food Chain, Animal and Plant Health on the assessment of SANCO policy impact in the CAP

On 17 February 2011, a meeting of the advisory group on the Food Chain, Animal and Plant Health took place to discuss the assessment of Sanco policy impact in the Common Agricultural Policy. The meeting was attended by Robert Pederson (EPHAC). The objective of the meeting was to gather concrete input in relation to the Sanco’s data and materials on the assessment of the impact of Sanco legislation in the areas of animal health and welfare, plant health, consumer choice, food and feed (...)

First interim report on social determinants of health and the health divide in the WHO European Region

The WHO Regional Office for Europe has started a regional review of the health divide and inequalities in health in July 2010 (ongoing) in order to inform the new health policy for the Region. The first interim report is published, identifying the barriers and opportunities to reduce health inequalities. The first phase of the review assessed levels of inequalities in health across the European Region and identified the barriers to and opportunities for reducing these. After this interim (...)

Health inequalities report adopted in the ENVI Committee - EPHA analysis of the vote.

On 31 January 2011, after being voted on in the ENVI Committee, a consolidated report on "Reducing health inequalities in the EU" by Edite Estrela MEP (S&D, Portugal) was published. In the months leading to the final report, EPHA was strongly involved in the process of monitoring the development and health inequalities debate, analysing the draft report and opinions from different EP Committees, and finally sending in the amendments to the draft report. EPHA was pleased to see its (...)