health threats

[EPT] Clinical Trials – new Regulation - Proposal for the Clinical Trials Regulation (CTD) - (updated on 30 April 2013)

Clinical trials Clinical trials are “Investigations in humans intended to discover or verify the effects of one or more investigational medicinal products (IMPs)”. Trials conducted in the European Union (EU) are currently governed by Directive 2001/20/EC (the Clinical Trials Directive, CTD) but these guidelines have been implemented differently across member states, thereby failing to reduce red tape and increasing costs. Consequently, in July 2012, the Commission published its (...)

European Immunization Week 2013: Prevent - Protect - Immunize

As the European Immunization Week unfolds (22-27 April 2013), it is worth to re-emphasise immunization as a cost-effective public health preventive measure. It is particularly true in times of economic crisis and public spending cuts affecting essential health services needed to prevent the re-emergence of communicable diseases in Europe (and elsewhere). On an annual basis, for one week in April, all countries across the European Region unite under the European Immunization Week’s (...)

[EPT] Medical devices - Regulation (recast) - Medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (17 April 2013)

Medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices. The term “medical device” covers an extremely diverse range of healthcare instruments – from simple bandages and dressings to tongue depressors, medical thermometers and blood sugar meters to pacemakers and life-supporting products, as well as eHealth devices which communicate remotely. The medical devices industry constitutes a key sector for healthcare. It is one of the most dynamic sectors, improving and saving (...)

New evidence on access to healthcare: austerity marginalises Europe’s weakest

On 9 April 2013, EPHA member Medecins du Monde European office (MdM) launched a new report that documents the effects of the economic crisis and rising xenophobia on undocumented migrants and other vulnerable groups at risk of exclusion from healthcare systems. Results show that the consequences of austerity measures are particularly strong in Southern Europe where many undocumented migrants are living in an administrative limbo. They are being joined by increasing numbers of European (...)

[Save the Date] Third Flu Summit of the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESI)

The third annual Flu Summit organised by EPHA member the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza will take place on 2 May 2013 in Brussels. It will be an opportunity to learn about and discuss with experts issues such as pandemic preparedness, new influenza target groups, and vaccination strategies. This year’s edition focuses on new developments and challenges in the influenza field, with special attention for discussions on safety and effectiveness of influenza vaccines. (...)

Health improves unequally within and among European countries

Every three years the World Health Organisation (WHO) publishes its report on European Health. This year its report has a special focus on well-being. "The European Health Report 2012: Charting the Way to Well-Being", released by the WHO Regional Office for Europe on March 13, reveals some bitter-sweet data: even if there have been important health improvements in the European Region, the inequities across and within the countries are persistent. According to the WHO Regional Director for (...)

2013 PCWP/HCPs meetings at European Medicines Agency

EPHA is a member of the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party and the Stakeholder Forum on Pharmacovigilance. Please find below information on the relevant meetings in 2013. Joint PCWP / HCPWP meeting 27-28 Feb 2013 Between 27-28 February, a joint Patients/Consumers Working Party and Healthcare Professionals Working Group meeting took place at the EMA in London. On day 1, the group discussed, among other things, the progress made in (...)

EU launches centre to fight cyber crime against critical infrastructures

11 January 2013 saw the inauguration of the EU’s new European Cyber Crime Centre - the EC3. Hosted by Europol and based in The Hague, the centre will form a focal point for the fight against cyber crime in the EU and coordination with other bodies and departments, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Centre is the latest in a string of measures enacted at the European level to fight this new trend in criminal activity. Cyber crime affects health in a number (...)

Revolution or Evolution? Advancing the debate on EU Data Protection Reform

A CEPS forum on 22 January explored the progress of the EU Data Protection Reform following the release of the LIBE report drafted by MEP Jan Albrecht (Greens, Germany) in December. The event gathered stakeholders representing, inter alia, competitive technology and an NGO working on privacy issues, also of great concern for the health community. Entitled ’’(R)evolution: The EU Data Protection Reform’’, the forum provided useful clarifications by MEP Jan Albrecht. (...)

European Parliament releases draft report on General Data Protection Regulation

The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) published its draft report amending the Commission’s proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation on 17 December 2012. In doing so, Rapporteur Jan Albrecht MEP (Green/EFA, Germany), has stuck to his ambitious goal of having an updated European data protection framework by the end of the current Parliamentary term. The report makes 350 amendments to the original Commission text, covering (...)