European Health Union
Initiative and Manifesto
The European Health Union initiative (EHUi) calls for a strong European Health Union (EHU) where no one is left behind, solidarity and security for all Europeans is strengthened, and environmental sustainability ensured. These goals form the foundation of the Manifesto for a European Health Union.
By facilitating diverse events and activities, the EHUi calls for a true EHU, and invites the people of Europe to actively participate in shaping health policies that contribute to the long-term sustainable development of the European Union. Commitment to progress should not be solely based on the necessity of increasing pandemic preparedness. Instead, it should be driven by the need to demonstrate to the people of Europe that our Union is dedicated to protecting us all. We must strive to build a Health Union where everyone can achieve optimal health throughout their lives.
The EHUi is facilitated by the European Health Forum Gastein and supported by the Bosch Health Campus.
Events and Podcasts
EHFG 2024 session: Co-creating an EHFG community mission letter
September 2024
A European Health Union was established after the pandemic had opened a new era for health in Europe and many ambitious initiatives were made possible – from vaccine procurement to safeguarding health at European borders to protect health and well-being of citizens in Europe. Continuous efforts towards a European Health Union have been pursued ever since, and the recent Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union set a clear message by placing the European Health Union strongly on its agenda.
This session served as an opportunity for the European health community to come together, collect, and discuss topical health priorities for the upcoming European Commission and European Parliament.
Read moreLocation
Bad Hofgastein
The European Health Union we want - 2024 and beyond
May 2024
At a recent event, co-oragnised by the European Health Union initiative and the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), under the auspices of the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, and the Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU, participants discussed their long-term visions and wishes for the future of the European Health Union.
We are pleased to present the outcomes of this event, which will contribute to discussions in a consultation session on the European Health Union at the EHFG 2024.
Read moreLocation
Brussels
EHFG 2023 session: Health workforce in the age of AI – Exploring future healthcare
September 2023
The past year has seen exponential growth in artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as Chat GPT, opening new paths to explore unrealised technological solutions for dated health systems. Yet, as we discuss the opportunities and benefits of AI, we must also consider the potential threats and pitfalls of such tools.
When reviewing the status quo of insufficiently financed and under-resourced European health systems, it becomes obvious that innovative and effective solutions are needed, not least to improve the current situation of the health workforce. But are healthcare systems and workers even ready and equipped for a new era of transformation? How will AI reshape the roles and responsibilities of understaffed and fatigued healthcare professionals – and will it prove to be a friend or foe, or a combination of both?
This session discussed the promise of AI tools to help provide safe and resource-efficient care, whilst also contributing to better working conditions for healthcare professionals.
Read moreLocation
Bad Hofgastein
EHU Podcast: Towards a true European Health Union - An inside look at the European Parliament's new SANT subcommittee
25 April 2023
In February 2023, the European Parliament approved the creation of a new permanent subcommittee for public health matters, SANT. The subcommittee, established under the umbrella of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), comprises of 30 members and will deal with programmes and specific actions in the field of public health, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, health aspects of bioterrorism, the European Medicines Agency, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Dorli-Kahr Gottlieb, Secretary General of the EHFG and one of the initiators behind the European Health Union Initiative (EHUI), sits down with MEP Sara Cerdas in this episode to lean more about SANT and it's priority topics.
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Online
Towards true One Health - Enhancing One Health efforts through EU support mechanism
25 January 2023
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), a temporary EU financial mechanism, is the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU to support the sustainability and resilience of Member States in the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. Yet, it remains to be discussed how the use of the funds is invested in different countries, and whether the given support complements the principles of One Health. This roundtable event discussed how the implementation of the RRF is seen from different stakeholder perspectives, and to what extent it fulfils the aims of a One Health approach, through bringing together EU decisionmakers and Member State and civil society representatives.
Read moreLocation
European Parliament, Brussels
Towards a European Health Union: how far have we come in strengthening health system resilience in Europe?
01 December 2022
The responses to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated what the EU can achieve in health and health systems. We have seen joint procurement of vaccines. The mandate of existing EU agencies like the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have been expanded. They have been joined by the Health Emergency and Response Authority (HERA) whose sole mission is to prepare for, and deal with, future health emergencies, and the expanded use of civil protection mechanisms and other important instruments. In March 2021, the European Parliament approved the EU4Health programme, with a budget of €5.3 billion, more than 10 times the budget of previous health programmes. And there is more to come including the new pharmaceutical strategy and the global health strategy.
So are we already on a road to a European Health Union that will strengthen the resilience of our health systems? Given the permacrisis we are facing, strengthening the resilience of health systems against external shocks is a priority. And the EU can play a central role in supporting its Member States to improve health system resilience. Various EU support tools are available to for this, but their uptake has varied between countries.
In this webinar we discussed how far we have come in establishing a European Health Union, what further support is needed from the perspective of Member States to strengthen the resilience of health systems, and how we can maintain the momentum for health and health systems in the EU.
Read moreLocation
Online
EHU Podcast: The Political Determinants of Health
22 November 2022
Within the discipline of public health, it is commonly understood that health outcomes are influenced by more than genetics and behaviour. Many health problems can be linked to a political determinant that created and is perpetuating health inequities across Europe. There is trouble, as we experienced during the pandemic, when politics suppresses professional rationalities. The completion of the European Health Union requires a series of national and EU decisions, and there is concern that the process started in 2020 has slowed down. In this episode of the "European Health Union - Now!" podcast, Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb speaks with MEP István Ujhelyi and Mihály Kökény, Former Minister for Health of Hungary, both of whom are champions of the European Health Union initiative.
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Online
EHU Podcast: A European Health Literate Union
16 August 2022
The field of health literacy has seen increased attention over the past decade with the number of networks and institutions working in this area growing. Yet, a significant number of the European population reports below optimal levels of health literacy, with large discrepancies between countries.
What do we know about the value of health literacy? And how can we achieve higher degrees of health literacy in the population? In this episode of the 'European Health Union Now!' podcast, Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb speaks with Kristine Sørensen, Founder of the Global Health Literacy Academy, President of the International Health Literacy Association, and a European Health Union initiative champion.
Read moreLocation
Online
Strengthening European Reference Networks: ensuring optimal care for all
23 June 2022
European Reference Networks (ERNs) aim to optimise care for patients with complex or rare diseases and conditions that require highly specialised treatment, by facilitating discussion among providers in different European countries and bundling knowledge and resources. The first ERNs were launched in 2017, involving more than 900 highly specialised healthcare units from over 300 hospitals in 26 EU countries.
The first years of experience have shown that ERNs have succeeded in strengthening cross-border collaboration, involving patients in their activities and pooling expert knowledge. At the same time, more could be done to increase disease coverage, reduce administrative burden and the uneven representation of participating countries, plus to secure sufficient funding and integration in national healthcare systems.
The EU4Health programme reiterates a strong, shared commitment to addressing chronic diseases, including the potential to extend the scope of ERNs to other complex communicable and non-communicable diseases. How can we build on the successes of the ERN model to ensure best possible care for patients with rare diseases in a post-pandemic world? Is the ERN model the way forward for service delivery in a stronger European Health Union?
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Online
The European health workforce and the digital skills gap: What is the EU’s role in closing the divide?
10 March 2022
Digital tools hold the potential to improve the efficiency, accessibility, and quality of care. But even if the technologies are at hand, we cannot fully utilise them whilst the digital skills gap in the health workforce remains.
During the COVID-19 pandemic many digital health tools moved from being viewed as a potential opportunity to becoming an immediate necessity, and the use of them increased substantially, including tools for eHealth, mHealth, and Big Data.
The European Commission, being mindful of progress in other regions of the world, has launched a skills agenda for a green and digital transformation for all economic sectors to ensure necessary modernisation. For health and social care, a digitally skilled health workforce is absolutely essential to ensure patient centeredness, care integration and multi-disciplinary teamwork. Given that the European health workforce is mobile, crossing national borders, digital skills must be ensured in all countries.
Now is the time to strengthen digital skills as many countries are building back better their health systems. But what’s the EU’s role in closing the digital skills gap with regards to regulation, funding, quality standards, and technical issues? And how can we support Member States to collaborate more effectively in bridging the digital divide amongst the health workforce in order to universally improve care?
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Online
The European Health Union & access to health technologies: is joint purchasing the way forward?
10 February 2022
The enduring problem of ensuring sustainable and equitable access to affordable medicines and other health technologies for all has been highlighted once again during the COVID-19 crisis. In this upcoming webinar organised in close collaboration between the European Health Union initiative and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, we will explore whether we can harness the recent experience of joint purchasing during the pandemic to better ensure equitable access to health technologies for diverse patient groups in the future.
Read moreLocation
Online
EHU Podcast: Towards a European Health Union – A conversation with Vytenis Andriukaitis
04 February 2022
In her September 2020 State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for a European Health Union as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Welcoming the Commission’s proposal, a Manifesto was drafted by the European Health Union initiative, which proposes a more ambitious model of a European Health Union and calls on the political leaders of Europe to commit to creating a solidaric, equitable and people-centred European Health Union.
To delve further into the initiative and its goals, episode six of the ‘European Health Union Now’ podcast sees host Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb speak with one of the lead initiators of the group, Vytenis Andriukaitis.
Vytenis is a former Minister of Health of Lithuania, and he was European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety between 2014 and 2019. Vytenis is WHO Special Envoy for the European region.
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Online
EHU Podcast: A Stronger Europe for Rare Diseases
6 December 2021
The fifth episode of the “European Health Union – Now!” podcast series looks at the situation of rare disease patients in Europe, what it means to live on the wrong side of the border, why orphan drugs are a different kind of animal, and what collaborative partnerships are needed to improve the situation of patients.
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Online
EHU Podcast: Do we need a Treaty change for a true European Health Union?
17 June 2021
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union (EU) has often been criticised for not having reacted strongly enough and for not having taken more leadership in coordinating the response. On the other hand, the pioneering efforts around the negotiations and the purchasing of the COVID-19 vaccines have showcased that coordinated action of all EU Member States is not only possible but necessary in times of a pandemic. Yet, the EU is limited in what it can do regarding health under the current Treaty, and the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly revealed the weaknesses in the division of powers and competences between the EU and its Member States.
In this episode, European Health Union (EHU) initiators Dorli Kahr-Gottlieb and Anniek de Ruijter discuss the recently published position paper, by EHU initiative members, calling for for a Treaty change in order to fully reach a EHU.
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Online
EHU PODCAST: A European Health Union for the people - civil society at the heart of Europe's future
7 June 2021
Civil society has played a crucial role in advocating for better health in the EU during the COVID-19 crisis – but had already done that before. As we are moving towards a European Health Union (EHU) that works for all Europeans, strong partnerships and collaboration with civil society organisations are needed. Civil society organisations can play a fundamental role in bridging the gap between the EU and its citizens, thereby helping to make the EHU a truly transformative European effort.
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Online
EHU PODCAST: Facing tomorrow’s health threats - a strong ECDC for a resilient Europe
6 May 2021
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthening Europe’s resilience against current and future health threats has become a hot item on political agendas, as well as an essential concern for citizens.
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Online
EHU Animatic: The case for a European Health Union
15 April 2021
"Health is not everything, but without health, everything is nothing", said 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Fast forward to 2021, and this old truth is painfully obvious. We must make a joint effort to refashion our health systems from the ground up until together we are fireproof.
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Online
TOWARDS A EUROPEAN HEALTH UNION: Have we failed to protect Europe's people?
11 March 2021
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the continent, it is hard to deny that our collective failings during the crisis have been massive. Fault lines in the current model of European collaboration are standing out starkly again in the struggle for timely and equitable vaccine roll-outs.
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Online
EHU PODCAST: Vaccine nationalism - where is the solidarity now?
6 February 2021
Europe seems to have forgotten that nobody is safe until everyone is safe. Does the current era of vaccine nationalism and its concomitant failure to demonstrate solidarity put a European Health Union at risk?
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Online
TOWARDS A EUROPEAN HEALTH UNION: A vision for more EU in health
9 December 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact Europe and the world, the need for European cohesion and global solidarity in health has never been stronger. Building on the conversations started in the EHFG webinar series Gastein goes online: Policy debates during the pandemic, we are proud to present our first webinar in the framework of the European Health Union (EHU) initiative: Towards a European Health Union: A vision for more EU in health, which took place on December 9th 10:00 – 11:00 AM CET.
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Online