childhood mortality

European Child Safety Alliance Wins European Health Award 2011

On October 7 2011 the European Child Safety Alliance (ECSA) was awarded the Award of the European Health Forum Gastein for a (Health) Policy Initiative of European Importance. ECSA`s Child Safety Report Card initiative was selected by the European Jury as the winner of this year’s award. The European Health Award is a prize awarded on an annual basis by the European Health Forum Gastein for projects which are designed to show improvement of medical care in Europe. More than one (...)

Child Injury prevention takes on new TACTICS to get the job done

Every year, unintentional injuries kill nearly 42 000 children and young people under the age of 20 in the WHO European Region. TACTICS - Tools to Address Childhood Trauma - is a large scale, multi-year initiative of the European Child Safety Alliance, funded by the European Commission, with the aim to provide better information, practical tools and resources to support adoption and implementation of evidence-based good practices in Europe. EPHA partners the project. In order to make the (...)

WHO Decade of Action for Road Safety - saving lives and money

Road accidents and injuries are biggest cause of mortality and disability among the youngest and most productive part of our societies. Road safety is a key element of sustainable transport policies creating healthier and wealthier societies. With this goal, WHO Europe has launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 and a new health economic assessment tool for transport. Road-traffic crashes kill over 350 Europeans every day, or over 120 000 per year. Almost half of them are (...)

European Women’s Lobby public hearing in the European Parliament on “Inequalities in access to health care services for undocumented migrants – including pregnant women and children”.

On the Human Rights Day – 8 December 2010 – European Women’s Lobby (EWL) organised a public hearing in the European Parliament (EP) to raise awareness on the issue of existing and growing inequalities in access to heath care services for undocumented migrants, and especially for pregnant women and children. Joined by the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), Medicins du Monde, the HUMA network, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (...)

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 (...)

EPHA calls on the Commission to adopt an ambitious 30% move in emission reduction target

Jointly with environmental groups, EPHA jo-signed an open letter to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso to adopt an ambitious 30% move in emission reduction target based on public health benefits and economic savings in healthcare. Climate letter to EU Commission President Barosso and the EU Commissioners supporting a 30% move in emission reduction target in the EU. Discussions are underway and the Commission is preparing the EU’s 2050 Low carbon economy Roadmap, which is (...)

EPHA workshop: Reducing Health Inequalities for Children Living in Europe

During the third annual EUPHA conference on 11-13 November in Amsterdam, EPHA organised a policy workshop entitled "Reducing Health Inequalities for Children Living in Europe". The theme was of particular importance because poverty still remains one of the most important social determinants of health. Eighty million European citizens – that is 17% of the EU population – live in poverty. One in five children are born and grow up in economic and social deprivation. These figures (...)

EPHA Briefing Paper on Health Inequalities

Although the issue of Health Inequalities is currently on the agenda of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Belgian and Spanish Presidencies and the World Health Organization, increasing economic and political pressures put even more burden on socially deprived, most vulnerable and under-served population groups. All health gains achieved in the recent decades are thus at risk. In light of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, the parliamentary (...)

EFSA report on the toxicity of bisphenol A (BPA) finds no new evidence strong enough to revise BPA tolerable daily intake levels.

In its report on the toxicity of bisphenor A (BPA) at low doses, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded "no new evidence significant enough to revise the current Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) for BPA". In addition to that, EFSA did also not find evidence of neurobehavioural toxicity of BPA convincing enough to advice against the substance. Reaction from HEAL Reaction from BEUC Bisphenol A is known as the endocrine active substance, possibly associated with negative health (...)

European Parliament hearing on the EU towards the UN summit on the MDGs

Alliance2015 - a partnership of cross-European non-government organizations working in the field of development cooperation - urged the European Commission (EC) at a hearing in the European Parliament on June 1st to show bold and responsible leadership in the preparations towards the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). EPHA was present during the hearing. The sixth 2015-Watch Report "The EU’s Contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. Keeping the Goals (...)