”Health is the foundation of everything. Without health, there is no functioning economy, school systems, social care, politics… nothing.”

Today, during the plenary session in Strasbourg, MEP Irena Joveva addressed the European Parliament on the Health Union.

In her contribution, she pointed out that health is a sine qua non and that the quality of treatment and access to medicines should not depend on a person’s country of origin. She added that the mandate of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) should be strengthened and stressed the importance of successfully managing cross-border threats and public health risks.

Strengthening the mandate of the ECDC will enable the European Union to be better prepared and to coordinate its response to any future health crisis. Better cooperation between a wide range of authorities at all levels, the collection of timely and comparable data across the EU, and more accurate monitoring of national health systems will make it easier to fight disease outbreaks. The Health Union will ensure a stronger EU response to public health emergencies.

Here address can be viewed here.