beyond-GDP

[EPHA’s 20th anniversary series] There is no time like the present

While generally speaking, political change in Brussels tends to be tremendously slow, twenty years are a sufficiently long period of time to have witnessed some crucial changes in the continent’s public health sphere. At the time of EPHA’s inception in 1993, Article 129 of the Maastricht Treaty had just equipped the European Commission with a limited but important legal coordinating role in the field of public health with a focus on prevention, health promotion and protection. (...)

UNICEF Innocenti Report Card: Child Well-being in Rich Countries.

The Report card considers five dimensions of children’s lives: material well-being, health and safety, education, behaviours and risks, and housing and environment. The report is a good example of indicators to be taken into account when developing and monitoring policies that have direct and indirect effect on child well-being, including cross-sectorally. The paper key findings can be summarised as follows: The Netherlands is the leader and the only country ranked among the top (...)

[Médecins du monde] Access to healthcare in Europe in times of crisis and rising xenophobia

On the 9th of April 2013, Doctors of the World International Network (Médecins du monde) presented its latest report, with some of the results of comparative data collected in 2012 in 14 cities across seven European countries. This report covers a sample of 8,412 patients, 19,302 consultations (including 10,968 medical consultations) and 11,921 diagnoses reported by their volunteer health professionals. In order to capture the context in which this data collection took place, a concise (...)

OECD & EPHA - Inclusive Growth only possible by challenging current growth model

On April 3, EPHA Secretary General participated in a high-level workshop on "Defining and Measuring Inclusive Growth" organised by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). With this initiative, the OECD wants to revise the way economic growth is approached– from purely pro-growth to inclusive growth – while seeking ways to improve the way policy is made and implemented. A key objective of the workshop was to develop a roadmap for policies for inclusive (...)

Can Health Impact Assessment methods be used to tackle global health equity?

A recent survey has examined if current health impact assessment (HIA) methods could be used to tackle global health equity. The poll shows that HIA do not address the issue of equity adequately. Existing HIAs will therefore require new, more sensitive tools measurements. The study looks at whether health equity impact assessments can be used to measure economic agreements, market regulation, and public policies. The results has proven that in current HIAs, equity is not addressed (...)

Social Platform Networking visit in Lithuania (22-24 May 2013)

Lithuania will hold the rotating EU presidency of the Council in the second half of 2013 (July-December 2013). The Social Platform, (an alliance of representative European federations and networks of non-governmental organisations active in the social sector) set up a delegation to Lithuania. EPHA, as a member organisation of the Social Platform, was represented in the delegation. Draft Programme Objectives of the visit To deliver messages to the upcoming Lithuanian presidency on (...)

[EPHA Consultation] Response on sustainable development

EPHA took part in the recent consultation on sustainable development. At the meeting, EPHA suggested a number of ways that health could be promoted in the follow up to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) 2012. EPHA strongly supports the efforts made by the Council to support sustainable development and the Beyond GDP agenda. Moreover, EPHA calls on the Commission to include a health dimension and to give strong political support for progress measures beyond GDP (...)

[Report portrait] The Impact of the Crisis on Civil Society Organisations in the EU – Risks & Opportunities

Paper published by The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

A Greener Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) crucial for Public Health Community

The European Policy Centre (EPC) think tank, in cooperation with the World Wide Fund (WWF) European Policy Office, organised a Policy Dialogue on 14 February, on the topic of ‘What future for the Common Agricultural Policy?’ The European Public Health & Agriculture Consortium (EPHAC) contributed to the debate highlighting the messages of the public health community towards the ongoing CAP reform. Discussions on the common agricultural policy (CAP) are already heated, with (...)

EU budget 2014-2020: EU leaders agree to historic cut

Following over a year of negotiations and a final 24 hour-long summit, the EU budget 2014-2020 was agreed on 8 February. Smaller than the current 2007-2013 budget, the new EU budget (called multiannual financial framework) sets the EU financial priorities and spending limits until 2020. This is the first time in the Union’s history that a net reduction on its budget has been made. The deal struck roughly represents 1% of EU Gross National Income. The net reduction comes at a time when (...)