Conclusions and recommendations

Conference of the Civil Society Organisations' Group on: The State of Health in the EU

17 June 2024

Placing health at the top of the European and national political agendas

• Highlight that health policy does not exist in a vacuum, but constitutes a critical sector for the EU's economy alongside energy, food security and technology;
• Recall that during the Covid-19 pandemic, health rose to the top of the political, strategic and policy agendas of the EU and Member States, leading inter alia, to the creation of the EU4Health programme and of the European Health Union (EHU);
• Strongly regret the decision of the Council of the EU on 1 February 2024, to reduce the EU4Health programme by 1 billion Euros. Such a decision is the clearest possible indication that health has slipped down the EU's political agenda;
• Urgently call on the EU to learn from the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and to place health as a key strategic priority in the political and policy agendas of the European Commission, European Parliament and Council, for the period 2024-2029;
• To this end, the EU must take urgent steps to complete a fully-fledged EHU and to heavily invest in collaborative medical research projects, following the good example of Covid-19;
• Urge the EU to recognise the right of Europeans to quality, affordable and accessible healthcare, through the creation of a European Health Guarantee.

Building a new architecture for health within the EU

• Stress that the European Institutions must embrace an ambitious, holistic and inclusive approach, which recognises and acts upon the inter-linkages between health and social policy, changing demographics, climate change, the digital and environmental transitions, economic security and industrial policy;
• Insist on the necessity to break down silos between the health of people, animals and the planet, by actively pursuing the approach of 'One Health' in EU and national policy-making;
• Recall that the concept of 'One Health' implies inter-dependencies between countries, but that changes in mindsets and behaviour must first take place at local and regional levels;
• Welcome the decision of the European Commission to create a 'One-Health' Directorate, but highlight that much more is necessary in order to reduce silos within and among EU policy-making;
• Call for the creation of a new architecture for health, which places the patient at the centre, rendering healthcare more predictable, preventive, personalised and participatory;
• Highlight that the take up and success of European healthcare initiatives and programmes is dependent on transparent, regular and structured dialogue with relevant civil society organisations (CSOs), including patient associations, which should have access to sustainable and predictable EU funding;
• Encourage more networking and peer learning among medical practitioners, alongside increases in evidence-informed policy-making at national and EU levels.

Investing in innovative and sustainable health systems 

• Insist that health must be recognised as a measurable social investment, rather than as a socio-economic cost for European societies;
• To this end, innovative, sustainable and multi-annual investments into European health systems and infrastructure are necessary, focussing on prevention, resilience, innovation and crisis-preparedness;
• Highlight that European health systems can only be sustainable alongside accessible and high-quality social services and public social policies, staffed with sufficient numbers of well-trained health professionals;
• Call for urgent steps to be taken at national and European levels, to better plan, finance, upskill and reskill the healthcare workforce;
• Recognise that digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), are already positively contributing to the quality of healthcare within the EU, by enhancing diagnostic accuracy, disease tracking, relieving administrative burdens on healthcare professions, etc.;
• Highlight that both healthcare professionals and patients should take more ownership of the new digital tools, with patients becoming partners in their healthcare;
• Recall that IT companies have a moral duty to ensure that their products are safe and reliable, ensuring that humans remain fully in control;
• Urge EU Member States to collaborate more closely on digitalisation and AI, with exchanges of best practices and EU common ethical standards and legislation;
• Call on hospitals and medical centres to take concrete steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their activities and to assist other medical centres to follow suit.

Taking action to combat health inequalities

• Stress that urgent steps must be taken to avoid increases in societal inequalities resulting from unequal access to digital technologies, or from the use of digital modelling that does not reflect the realities of societal diversity (e.g. gender, ethnic, disabilities, etc.);
• Highlight that failure to address the severe shortage of healthcare professionals will lead to increases in poverty and social inequalities among the EU population, as access to quality healthcare will be progressively reduced;
• Call for enhanced investment, research, innovation and European partnerships on rare diseases, in order to reduce health inequalities among the 30 million Europeans who are afflicted by such diseases. This will require a collaborative approach among policy-makers, researchers, health authorities, patient associations, mutual societies and health insurers;
• Highlight that further financing and research into the gender dimension of health are also required, in order to better understand gender specificities in health, notably with regard to women's health.