Newsletter December 2003

Secretariat activity in December 2003

70 NGO representatives from 29 countries participated in an NGO strategy conference on 15-16 December 2003 in Brussels organised by EPHA and Eco-Forum. The event was linked to preparations for the Budapest conference on on Environment and Health in June 2004 and was hosted by the Belgian government and a grant from the WHO. A conference report will be available in the coming weeks.
Genon Jensen and many EPHA members participated in the European Commission’s Consultative Working Group on (...)

December 2003 newsletter

Welcome to the December 2003 edition of the EPHA newsletter.
The Italian Presidency closed with the collapse of the InterGovernmental Conference with no agreement on a new EU Treaty. The row over voting weights for Member States, particularly for Poland and Spain, could not be solved. The failure of the talks with not affect EU enlargement in May 2004 because the institutional arrangements from the 2000 Nice Treaty will remain in force until 2009. After the intense negotiations of late (...)

EPHA Presentation - The pros and cons of participating in EU programmes

EPHA General Secretary Tamsin Rose made a presentation on 12 December 2003 on the advantages and disadvantages for NGOs of submitting projects for EU funding.
The conference was organised in Sofia, Bulgaria by the Ministry of Health, the Partnership for health consortium and supported by DG SANCO. The conference was opened by the Bulgarian Minister of Health and was designed to encourage local NGOs to participate in the EU Public Health Programme. More than 80 health professionals and NGOs (...)

Working Parties for the EU Public Health Programme

The EU Public Health Programme has three key strands of action: Health Information Systems (Strand 1), Rapid response to health threats (Strand 2) and Health determinants (Strand 3). As part of Strand 1, DG SANCO will create a number of working parties which are designed to advise on further development work in the specific field.
Working Parties that will be established
The working parties will run for the length of the EU Public Health Programme (2003-2008) and may involve sub-groups or (...)

Task force on rare diseases launched

DG SANCO is launching a Taskforce on rare diseases in Luxembourg on 21 January 2004 to outline the results of the former EU Rare Diseases Programme and to assess the status of rare diseases in the EU Public Health Programme (2003 - 2008). The taskforce is an output of the Morbidity and Mortality Working Party convened by DG SANCO.
The Taskforce consists of experts from the WHO, EU Member States (existing and CEE accession countries), DG Research, EMEA and Eurostat. Additional members (...)

New Director-General of DG SANCO appointed

The new Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Consumer Affairs (SANCO) is Mr Robert Madelin, a UK national.
Mr Madelin’s previous position was a Director in DG Trade where he was responsible for managing the civil society dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders on EU positions in multilateral trade issues. He will take up his new role at SANCO in early 2004.
EPHA interviewed Mr Madelin in January 2003 on the inter-linkage between health and (...)

IGC ends in failure

The InterGovernmental Conference ended without agreement during the day on Saturday 13 December 2003. The voting weights for Spain and Poland were the issue that brought the IGC to a standstill.
What does this mean for the draft Constitutional Text? Several commentators have noted that there is likely to be a period of reflection and stock-taking rather than a rush to re-start negotiations. It is expected that the Irish government will produce a status report in Spring 2004 but any (...)

IGC - New Presidency compromise text, 9 December

On 9 December 2003 the Italian Presidency produced new compromise proposals to be used as a basis for the discussions in the European Council meeting of 12-13 December 2003. Following the Naples meeting of foreign ministers, the Presidency has produced an Explanatory memorandum (IGC Doc 60/03) and two new documents.
The first, CIG 60/03 ADD 1 covers issues that the Presidency feels that they have managed to integrate the comments of the various delegations and that this is now a balanced (...)

EPHA position paper on nutrition and health claims

The European Commission has proposed a Regulation on Nutrition and Health Claims Made on Foods and the draft text is being discussed by the European Parliament and the Council. The aim of the Regulation is to limit misleading or confusing marketing claims on food products and help consumers to make informed choices about their food purchases and diet.
EPHA has extensively consulted its members organisations and produced a position paper on the draft Regulation, highlighting the importance (...)

Hearing at the European Parliament on food claims, 8 January 2004

MEP Dr. Renate Sommer, rapporteur for the PPE group is organising a public hearing in the European Parliament on 8 January 2003 on the draft Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on food. Speakers include Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne and representatives of consumers, retailers and the food industry.
The draft programme and registration form are available for (...)

EU survey on health, food, alcohol and safety - December 2003

A Eurobarometer survey published in December 2003 examines incidence of chronic illness, long-term treatment and dental health in the existing 15 countries of the EU. The European Commission’s report also provides more depth on health maintenance through doctor’s visits and various screening tests. Women’s health, safety and children’s safety are also examined in detail.
The sample reveals the prevalence of chronic illness across the EU, rheumatism/arthritis (22 %), allergies (18%), high (...)

German region re-orients healthcare towards prevention - December 2003

German Region of Bavaria consults citizens on how to prioritise health promotion and prevention.
The Bavarian Regional Minister for Health, Mr Eberhard Sinner has launched a new Citizens Report. It addresses the issue of health policy by asking the key question of how the health system can be directed to prevention and health promotion.
The methodology used to develop the citizens report has already been used to assess opinions on consumer protection. 400 citizens have been randomly (...)

New book on child public health - December 2003

A new publication provides a public health approach to health issues for children and young people in the developed world
EPHA has received a copy of a book published last month, called Child Public Health, written by M. Blair, S. Stewart-Brown, T. Waterston, and R. Crowther.
This book is targeted at public health practitioners and clinicians. The contents include:
Child health in the UK
Child health - the global context
Child public health - lessons from the past
Key concepts and (...)

EPHA briefing note on the Final report on EU patient mobility

The High Reflection Process examining the issue of patient mobility releases its final report and recommendations
The High Reflection Process, much criticised for its lack of transparency, released its report about the consequences of patients seeking treatment in other Member States (MS).
For the benefit of our members EPHA produced a briefing paper in October 2003, which provided a simplified overview of the process thus far.
In response to this final report, EPHA has produced a (...)

Warning about the health of UK teenagers, December 2003

Obesity, mental ill-health and infertility, thats the fate awaiting many young people in the UK, as the health care system fails to meet their needs.
A new report by the British Medical Association (BMA), calls for increased government investment to tackle the specific health issues of adolescents.
Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA’s Head of Science and Ethics said:
"Young people in Britain are increasingly likely to be overweight, indulge in binge drinking, have a sexually transmitted (...)

Patient mobility report published - December 2003

The high level reflection proces on patient mobility has ended with the publication on 8 December 2003 of the final report which includes a series of recommendations.
In June 2002 the Commission was asked by Member States (MS) to facilitate a reflection process on patient mobility; EPHA has been tracking this process on behalf of our members.
What is patient mobility? The European Union was and remains primarily an economic union, to facilitate the free movement of goods and services. (...)

Links between equity and health explored

A new publication from the Nuffield Trust shares the results of a seminar organised in London in November 2002 on health and equity. The papers delivered at the Seminar by leading academics are written from the perspectives of ethics, economics and political science. Many of the articles address the issue of patient choice.
Download EQUITY IN HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

UNICEF reports poverty and high infant mortality in Central Asia

UNICEF’s 2003 Social Monitor paints an alarming picture of health in the 8 countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan and Turkmenistan). A special section looks at the real infant mortality rates which are much higher than official figures. Actual infant death rates in these countries are 5 times greater than in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS and 12 times greater than in Western industrial (...)

Seminar on re-processing medical devices safely, 28 January 2004

The European Association for Medical Device Reprocessing (EAMDR) is organising seminar in the European Parliament in Brussels on 28 January 2003. The event aims to shed some light on the various aspects of this sometimes technical and complex issue.
Some devices, both single-use medical devices and those marketed as reusable, have been reprocessed in-house by hospitals and other treatment facilities for decades. An industry of third-party medical device reprocessing companies has developed (...)

Australian report highlights the benefits of investment in health

The Australian Ministry of Health and Ageing has produced a study of the Returns on Investment in Public Health: An Epidemiological and Economic Analysis.
The report describes an epidemiological and economic analysis of five public health programs, namely: programs to reduce tobacco consumption, coronary heart disease, HIV/AIDS, measles and Hib-related diseases and road trauma. Specifically the research details the financial and economic return on investment of past public health programs (...)

Most prescription drugs only work in 30-50 % of cases !

A senior executive with Britain’s biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.
Speaking to a conference in London, Dr Roses referred to another study carried out by Brian Spear, a senior scientist at the US company Abbott (...)