EFN UPDATE - FEBRUARY 2010
News from the EU
Spanish EU Presidency
On 1st January 2010, Spain took over the EU presidency from Sweden, being the first country to operate under the rules of the Lisbon Treaty - that entered into force on 1st December 2009 creating the posts of EU president and foreign affairs chief, filled by Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton respectively-; and to take the EU's helm under the incoming trio of presidencies, completed by Belgium (July-December 2010) and Hungary (January-June 2011). The major focus of this Presidency will be on the recovery from the economic crisis and job creation, two topics of high concern to EFN that already brought into the political arena a report on the impact of the financial crisis on its members and provided its input to the EU 2020 strategy. Regarding Health, the Spanish Presidency priorities are: health inequalities, human organs and chronic diseases, as well as eHealth, and patients’ quality and security improvement. Furthermore, Spain will take on the proposed directive on prevention from sharp injuries in the hospital and healthcare sector, amending the directive on workers’ protection against risks related to the exposure to biological agents at work; and will pay particular attention to the development of the “New Skills for New Jobs” initiative (considered as one of the cornerstones of the new Post-Lisbon Strategy 2010 regarding employment and an element to face the crisis). Finally, the Spanish General Council of Nursing, member of EFN, will organize, in collaboration with the Spanish Health Ministry, a high level meeting on an important topic for EFN: “sharp injuries”, on 1-2 June 2010.
New European health Commissioner
The selection of a new European Commission has this year been more complex than ever. The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009 brought a whole range of changes at political and institutional levels: it consolidates the Commission's right of initiative and introduces important changes to the way in which legislation is prepared and adopted. As regards Health, the European Commissioner designated for Health and Consumer Policy, the Maltese John Dalli, is willing to achieve better quality of life for EU citizens by strengthening the principle of “informed citizens” and “informed choices”, through education and information to citizens. Asked about the ongoing Cross-Border directive that failed to reach a political agreement among Member States last December, Mr. Dalli stated that he was expecting to be working with the current EU Presidency to try to move forward this initiative and reach a political agreement during his mandate. Furthermore, the scope of DG Health & Consumers will be modified with the arrival of some major dossiers while some others will become the responsibility of another Directorate-General. DG Sanco will be for example responsible for Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Medical Devices (prior responsibility of DG Enterprise); Biotechnology, Pesticides and Health (prior responsibility of DG Environment); the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) (currently under DG Enterprise); and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Finally, the new Commissioners should take office following the parliamentary vote on 1 February 2010.
Global Health
As a follow-up of the EU Global Health Policy Forum – an informal monthly gathering of stakeholders active on EU Global Health-, that took place in Brussels, on 14 January 2010, where the plans for the formal Communication on Global Health, due to be issued in March, were discussed, Action for Global Health and Oxfam Novib have been asked by the European Commission to coordinate all input from civil society on the first draft of the Global Health Communication. Furthermore, EPHA - on behalf of Action for Global Health - is organising a meeting in March to try and set up a more formal Brussels based network of organisations interested in promoting global health to the EU. EPHA is keen to have the nurses involved. The RCN (Member of EFN) is part of the UK network. The EFN members that would be interested in getting directly involved in this issue can contact the Global Health Project Manager in EPHA - Frazer Goodwin. The next Global Health Policy Forum is planned for 11 February 2010.
EHFCN Awareness campaign
The European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network (EHFCN) launched an awareness campaign highlighting that the money lost to healthcare fraud and corruption (more than 56 billion Euros each year across European Union countries - representing the funding necessary to pay for over 2.5 million more nurses across Europe every year) could be used for improving healthcare infrastructure, healthcare education, technology and other health services, for the benefit of every European citizen. Therefore, the EHFCN is calling for the creation of a real anti-fraud and anti-corruption culture within the healthcare systems among service providers, healthcare suppliers, healthcare payers, healthcare users and all European citizens, and encourage policy makers to take measures at national and European level to counter healthcare fraud and corruption in order to provide every citizen with the basic access to healthcare they deserve.
Publications
“Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) published a report entitled “Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda”, that explains that despite considerable progress in the past decades, societies continue to fail to meet the health care needs of women at key moments of their lives, particularly in their adolescent years and in older age. The report also provides the latest and most comprehensive evidence available on women's specific needs and health challenges over their entire life-course. Furthermore, WHO is calling for urgent action both within the health sector and beyond to improve the health and lives of girls and women around the world, from birth to older age.