What future for public health in the enlarged EU?

"We need to develop a European health policy," said Professor Reinhard Busse from Technische Universität (Berlin) in order to defend public health interests vis-a-vis influence from other policy areas, such as the internal market and competition. Speaking at Open Forum 2004, a conference on health hosted by the Commission, Mr Busse said the way forward could be through the "open method of coordination" (see also EurActiv's ).

Professor Felix Unger, President of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Austria) pointed out that 'health is wealth' and high quality care should be accessible for all people of all ages. Professor Unger added that the health sector is the largest employer in the EU accounting for 25 per cent of GNP. Healthcare should be patient-oriented, but, at the same time, patients should put more effort into self care and assessing their own medical needs, the Professor told participants.

Nata Menabde, Director at the World Health Organisation's (WHO's) Regional Office for Europe, said that although health indicators overall had improved in the last 25 years, large regional, social and other types of differences have led to enormous health inequalities. There is a big difference in life expectancy between the EU-15 and the new Member States. In the pharmaceuticals sector, more branded products are expected to appear in the new Member States as a result of enlargement. The speaker commended the newcomers for a more widespread use of breast feeding. The Common Agricultural Policy, however, is a point of concern for the WHO's European regional office as its targets areas which do not correspond to the nutritional targets of the WHO.

Ms Christine Hancock, President of the International Council of Nurses, argued that there was no shortage of nurses but it was rather the conditions that deterred existing ones from taking up employment in their field. Ms Hancock referred to the recruitment of nurses from developing countries as 'unethical' as it reduces the number of qualified health professionals in those countries.