A shared vision for health

On the 7th of January 2020, MEP Irena Joveva co-hosted an informal reception of the European Union health Coalition. It is a good starting point for a great beginning of the New Year and a solid foundation for joining forces between policy-makers and partners in the run-up to the second European Union Health summit, set to take place on the 4-5 May 2020. 

The EU health Coalition is addressing the challenges of the healthcare systems across Europe, currently under pressure due to an ageing population and higher prevalence of chronic diseases. The main goal of the Coalition is to tackle the emerging problems and ensuring to make the most of the latest advances in science with active collaboration and a common health strategy, joining the needs and priorities into one shared vision.

“What will happen on health in Europe this year? Well, my wish is that we here and everyone else would be healthy or at least with no serious problems… Yes, I know, it’s unfortunately not possible. So, my realistic wish list on health issues is long, but at this moment I would like to point out one most important health issue – The Europe Beating Cancer Plan – to create comprehensive plan on how to tackle this pressing issue with concrete legislative steps based upon impact assessment. This will be one of the main priorities in this mandate, including the European Parliament and the Commission. We know that 40% of cancers are preventable if we implement what we know already. However, we need a joint approach.

And the same goes to the multi stakeholders’ collaboration itself. Strong cooperation is the key. Not only for us, the politicians, not only for you, the partners, the researchers, the doctors… Primarily, it’s for the patients. You know, none of us is omniscient. We do not know everything, sometimes we learn from our colleague, from our subordinate, sometimes from an expert from another country, sometimes even from the patient him or herself. I know it’s not the same, but still: I definitely learn most from the ‘ordinary’ people.

Additionally, collaboration among policymakers, experts and general public is very much needed to tackle the challenges of our healthcare systems also because they are – as such – not under EU competence. We must not forget that and try to enhance cooperation between Members States and make most of European programs, mechanisms and tools to share our knowledge, good practices and data in our common goal. “

At the event, the EU health Coalition presented the set of recommendations addressing 20 most pressing health care issues, serving as an outline of a said vision, which were formed as a result of the first Summit in November 2018.