Joveva for a Czech web portal: “A standing committee for public health and the creation of the European Health Union are needed”

“In all Member States we are seeing issues in healthcare systems. There are shortages of doctors and medicines in every state. It is a common EU problem,” said MEP Irena Joveva, Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Public Health (SANT), speaking to the Czech portal Zdravotnicky denik. This is just one of many important public health issues that need to be addressed. It is for this reason that in her view a standing committee on public health is needed, just as it is necessary to create a European Health Union.

MEP Joveva began by explaining that the establishment of the SANT subcommittee was a much-needed step in the evolution of public health policies in the EU. The primary focus of her work in this area will be securing public health as a whole: she will work to ensure that healthcare is accessible, affordable and does not discriminate. Even though public health is a Member State competence, issues are not limited to individual states, rather they have grown into a common EU problem, she pointed out.

The same problems have been prominent for years, if not decades, and it is high time the Union steps in and helps solve them. That is one of the reasons we started forming the European Health Union.

Among other things, Joveva explained that her focus will primarily be on improving mental health policies across the European Union. She believes that we need a more organised approach to tackling this critical issue, especially among young people.

She went on to stress that the discussions and the final report will be extremely important in outlining the changes needed to ensure appropriate and effective public health policies.

The report will outline the basic actions needed for improving public health, highlight the main issues and provide guidelines for the required legislation. It will thus present a well-rounded and good basis for future health policies. I only hope that the future Commission will consider it when drafting new proposals.

Joveva shared with the journalist that EU politicians are currently working on legislation to establish a European Health Data Space (EHDS), which is undoubtedly crucial for ensuring the much-needed cooperation between Member States and is an essential step in creating the European Health Union. Currently, this is the most important proposal, but it will be overshadowed by the upcoming pharmaceutical package, which has been very controversial since the European Commission began drafting it. According to Joveva, access to affordable medicines is essential for the functioning of our health systems, and we therefore need to ensure that prices are managed accordingly: “It might be expedient to arrange a EU joint procurement and distribution between Member States so that everyone has equal access to medicines in the common market.”

She concluded the interview by noting that during the current term of the European Parliament the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) has achieved major improvements in the area of environmental policies and in tackling issues related to the global pandemic. In the face of crisis, however, the need to separate two policy areas that are both crucial for our future – environment and health –became evident. The MEP expressed her conviction that this will be one of the results of the SANT subcommittee – the actual establishment of a permanent, independent committee responsible for all (public) health policies.

Photo: Jan VAN DE VEL