PHM-Exch> European Parliament passes resolution on reducing health inequalities

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) crossposted from :
EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org


 *European Parliament passes resolution on reducing health inequalities

*

*08 March 2011

*



Website: http://bit.ly/fVK9Sd



“….Resolution from the European Parliament underlines that everybody should
have access to healthcare systems and affordable healthcare. The specific
needs of vulnerable groups such as women, older patients, undocumented
migrants, ethnic minorities, need to be taken better into account.



Life expectancy has been shown to vary across EU Member States by 14.2 years
for men and 8.3 years for women (Eurostat figures for 2007 and 2010
respectively), says the resolution, which was drafted by Edite Estrela (S&D,
PT) and adopted by 379 votes to 228 with 49 abstentions.

 Also within countries, groups of different education levels and social
situations have widely differing health prospects….”



The text of the resolution can be found at:



http://bit.ly/fVK9Sd



*European Parliament resolution of 8 March 2011 on reducing health
inequalities in the EU
(2010/2089(INI)<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/FindByProcnum.do?lang=en&procnum=INI/2010/2089>
**)*

*The European Parliament* ,

–  having regard to Articles 168 and 184 of the Treaty on the Functioning of
the European Union,
–  having regard to Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union,
–  having regard to Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union,
–  having regard to Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union, which deals with equality between men and women in all
areas,
–  having regard to the Commission Communication entitled ‘Solidarity in
health: reducing health inequalities in the EU’
(*COM(2009)0567*<http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/liste_resultats.cfm?CL=en&ReqId=0&DocType=COM&DocYear=2009&DocNum=0567>
),
–  having regard to Council Decision 1350/2007/EC of 23 October 2007
establishing a second programme of Community action in the field of health
(2008-13)*(1)*<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0081+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#def_1_1%23def_1_1>,
–  having regard to Council Decision 2010/48/EC of 26 November 2009
concerning the conclusion, by the European Community, of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities*(2)*<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0081+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#def_1_2%23def_1_2>,
–  having regard to the Social Protection Committee Opinion on ‘Solidarity
in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU’,
–  having regard to the Council Conclusions of 8 June 2010 on ‘Equity and
Health in All Policies: Solidarity in Health’,
–  having regard to the report on the second joint assessment by the Social
Protection Committee and the Commission of the social impact of the economic
crisis and of policy responses,
–  having regard to the Council Conclusions on ‘Common values and principles
in European Union Health Systems’ (2006/C 146/01),
–  having regard to the Council Resolution of 20 November 2008 on the health
and well-being of young people,
–  having regard to the Final Report of the Commission on Social
Determinants of Health (WHO, 2008),
–  having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions on
‘Solidarity in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU’,
–  having regard to its resolution of 1 February 2007 on Promoting Healthy
Diets and Physical Activity: a European Dimension for the Prevention of
Overweight, Obesity and Chronic
Diseases*(3)*<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0081+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#def_1_3%23def_1_3>)
and its resolution of 25 September 2008 on the White Paper on
Nutrition,
Overweight and Obesity-related Health
Issues*(4)*<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0081+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#def_1_4%23def_1_4>,
–  having regard to its resolution of 9 October 2008 on the White Paper
entitled ‘Together for Health: A Strategic Approach for the EU 2008-2013’*
(5)*<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0081+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#def_1_5%23def_1_5>,
–  having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,
–  having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public
Health and Food Safety and the opinions of the Committee on the Internal
Market and Consumer Protection and of the Committee on Women's Rights and
Gender Equality
(*A7-0032/2011*<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A7-2011-0032&language=EN>
),

A.  whereas universality, access to high-quality care, equity and solidarity
are common values and principles underpinning the health systems in the EU
Member States,
B.  whereas, while people live, on average, longer and healthier lives than
previous generations, the EU is faced, in the context of an ageing
population, with an important challenge, namely the wide disparities in
physical and mental health which exist and are growing between and within EU
Member States,
C.  whereas the difference in life expectancy at birth between the lowest
and highest socioeconomic groups is 10 years for men and six years for
women,
D.  whereas the gender dimension in terms of life expectancy is also a major
issue to be addressed in the context of health inequalities,
E.  whereas, apart from genetic determinants, health is influenced above all
by people's lifestyles, by their access to healthcare services, including
health information and education, disease prevention and treatment for
short- and long-term illnesses; whereas lower socioeconomic groups are more
susceptible to poor nutrition and to tobacco and alcohol dependency, all of
which are major contributory factors in many diseases and conditions,
including cardiovascular diseases and cancers,
F.  whereas inequalities in health between people in higher and lower
educational, occupational and income groups have been found in all Member
States,
G.  whereas there is evidence of a gender dimension in malnutrition rates
which suggests that women suffer more from malnutrition and that this
inequality is exacerbated further down the socioeconomic scale,
H.  whereas gender and age inequalities in biomedical research and the
under-representation of women in clinical trials undermine patient care,
I.  whereas the comparative measurement of health inequalities is a
fundamental first step towards effective action,
J.  whereas rates of morbidity are usually higher among those in low
educational, occupational and income groups and substantial inequalities can
also be seen in the prevalence of most specific forms of disability and of
most specific chronic non-communicable diseases, oral diseases and forms of
mental illness,
K.  whereas the incidence of tobacco use among women, particularly young
women, is rapidly rising, with devastating consequences for their future
health; and whereas, in the case of women, smoking is aggravated by multiple
disadvantage,
L.  whereas the Commission has noted that there is a social gradient in
health status in all the EU Member States (Commission Communication of
20 October 2010 entitled ‘Solidarity in Health: Reducing Health Inequalities
in the EU’); and whereas the World Health Organisation defines this social
gradient as being the link between socioeconomic inequalities and
inequalities in the areas of health and access to healthcare,
M.  whereas numerous projects and studies have confirmed that the onset of
overweight and obesity in particular is characterised by early disparities
linked to the socioeconomic environment and that the highest incidence rates
of overweight and obesity are registered in lower socioeconomic groups;
whereas this situation could lead to even greater health and socioeconomic
inequalities owing to the increased risk of obesity-related diseases,
N.  whereas despite the socioeconomic and environmental progress that has
led to an overall improvement in people's health status over long periods, a
number of factors, such as hygiene, living and working conditions,
malnutrition, education, income, alcohol consumption and smoking, are still
having a direct impact on health inequalities,
O.  whereas climate change is expected to result in a number of potential
health impacts through increased frequency of extreme weather events, such
as heat waves and floods, through changing patterns of infectious disease,
and via increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation; whereas not all EU
countries are equally prepared to address these challenges,
P.  whereas health inequalities are not only the result of a host of
economic, environmental and lifestyle-related factors, but also of problems
relating to access to healthcare,
Q.  whereas health inequalities are also linked to problems in accessing
healthcare, both for economic reasons (not so much for major treatment,
which is dealt with correctly by the Member States, but rather for everyday
treatment, such as dental and eye care) and as a result of poor distribution
of medical resources in certain areas of the EU,
R.  whereas the dearth of medical professionals in certain parts of the EU
and the fact that they can easily move to other parts of the EU is a real
problem, and whereas this situation is resulting in major inequalities in
terms of access to healthcare and patient safety,
S.  whereas people living in remote and island areas continue to have
limited access to prompt and high-quality healthcare,
T.  whereas patients living with chronic diseases or conditions form a
specific group which suffers inequalities in access to diagnosis and care,
social and other support services, and disadvantages including financial
strain, poor access to employment, social discrimination and stigma,
U.  whereas violence against women is a widespread phenomenon in all
countries and among all social classes and has a dramatic effect on the
physical and emotional health of women and children,
V.  whereas infertility is a medical condition recognised by the World
Health Organisation which has a particular impact on women's health, and
whereas the UK National Awareness Survey has shown that over 94% of women
suffering from infertility also suffer from forms of depression,
W.  whereas there are wide disparities between Member States in terms of
access to fertility treatment,
X.  whereas, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistical office,
unemployment across the 27 EU Member States reached 9.6% in September 2010,
and whereas the Council of the European Union's Social Protection Committee,
in its opinion of 20 May 2010, expressed concern that the present economic
and financial crisis will adversely affect people's access to healthcare and
Member States' health budgets,
Y.  whereas the current economic and financial crisis may have a severe
impact on the healthcare sector in several EU Member States, on both the
supply and the demand sides,
Z.  whereas the restrictions due to the current economic and financial
crisis, combined with the consequences of the forthcoming demographic
challenge that the Union will have to face, could seriously undermine the
financial and organisational sustainability of Member States' healthcare
systems, thus hindering equal access to care on their territories,

AA.  whereas the combination of poverty and other forms of vulnerability,
such as childhood or old age, disability or minority background, further
increases the risks of health inequalities, and whereas, vice versa, ill
health can lead to poverty and/or social exclusion,
AB.  whereas early years have lifelong effects on many aspects of health and
well-being – from obesity, heart disease and mental health, to education,
professional achievement, economic status and quality of life,
AC.  whereas health inequalities have significant economic implications for
the EU and for Member States; whereas losses linked to health inequalities
have been estimated to cost around 1.4% of GDP,
AD.  whereas in many EU countries equitable access to healthcare is not
guaranteed, either in practice or in law, for undocumented migrants,
AE.  whereas cases still arise in the Member States of members of various
social groups (for example, people with disabilities) being faced with
obstacles to equal admission to healthcare establishments, which limits
their access to health services,
AF.  whereas, with their ageing populations, the Member States are having to
deal with problems relating to dependency and an increasing need for
geriatric care and treatment; whereas a change in the approach to organising
healthcare is therefore needed; and whereas inequalities relating to access
to healthcare for elderly people are on the increase,

1.  Welcomes the key suggestions made by the Commission in its Communication
entitled ‘Solidarity in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU’: (1)
making a more equitable distribution of health part of our overall goals for
social and economic development; (2) improving the data and knowledge bases
(including measuring, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting); (3) building
commitment across society for reducing health inequalities; (4) meeting the
needs of vulnerable groups; and (5) developing the contribution of EU
policies to the reduction of health inequalities;

2.  Stresses the importance of healthcare services being provided in a
manner consistent with fundamental rights; points to the need to maintain
and improve universal access to healthcare systems and to affordable
healthcare;

3.  Points to the importance of improving access to disease prevention,
health promotion and primary and specialised healthcare services, and
reducing the inequalities between different social and age groups, and
emphasises that these objectives could be achieved by optimising public
spending on preventive and curative healthcare and targeted programmes for
vulnerable groups;

4.  Calls on the Commission and Member States to press ahead with their
efforts to tackle socio-economic inequalities, which would ultimately make
it possible to reduce some of the inequalities relating to healthcare;
furthermore, on the basis of the universal values of human dignity, freedom,
equality and solidarity, calls on the Commission and Member States to focus
on the needs of vulnerable groups, including disadvantaged migrant groups
and people belonging to ethnic minorities, children and adolescents, people
with disabilities, with a special focus on mental illness, patients
diagnosed with chronic diseases or conditions, older people, people living
in poverty, and people affected by alcoholism and drug addiction;

5.  Calls on the Member States to ensure that the most vulnerable groups,
including undocumented migrants, are entitled to and are provided with
equitable access to healthcare; calls on the Member States to assess the
feasibility of supporting healthcare for irregular migrants by providing a
definition based on common principles for basic elements of healthcare as
defined in their national legislation;

6.  Calls on the Member States to take account of the specific health
protection needs of immigrant women, with particular reference to the
guaranteed provision by health systems of appropriate language mediation
services; those systems should develop training initiatives enabling doctors
and other professionals to adopt an intercultural approach based on
recognition of, and respect for, diversity and the sensitivities of people
from different geographical regions; priority must also be given to measures
and information campaigns to combat female genital mutilation, including
severe penalties for those who practise it;

7.  Calls on the EU and the Member States rapidly to find ways of combating
ethnic discrimination, particularly in certain Member States where Council
Directive 2000/43/EC has not been implemented and where women from ethnic
minorities have little or no social protection or access to healthcare;

8.  Calls on the Member States to promote access to high-quality legal
advice and information in coordination with civil society organisations to
help ordinary members of the public, including undocumented migrants, to
learn more about their individual rights;

9.  Emphasises that the economic and financial crisis and the austerity
measures taken by Member States, in particular on the supply side, may lead
to a reduction in the level of funding for public health and health
promotion, disease prevention and long-term care services as a result of
budget cuts and lower tax revenues, while the demand for health and
long-term care services may increase as a result of a combination of factors
that contribute to the deterioration of the health status of the general
population;

10.  Stresses that health inequalities in the EU represent a substantial
burden to Member States and their healthcare systems and that the effective
functioning of the internal market and strong and, if possible, coordinated
public policies on prevention can contribute to improvements in this field;

11.  Stresses that countering socio-economic factors such as obesity,
smoking, etc., the accessibility of healthcare systems (jeopardised by the
non-reimbursement of the cost of care and of medicines, inadequate
prevention and the fragmentation of medical demography) and effective
diagnosis should be considered key aspects of measures to combat health
inequality and that, in addition, the accessibility and affordability of
pharmaceutical treatments should also be regarded as a key aspect of
individual people's health; therefore calls on Member States to ensure that
the Transparency Directive (89/105/EEC) is being properly implemented and
that the conclusions from the 2008 Commission Communication on the
Pharmaceutical Sector Inquiry are being appropriately addressed;

12.  Stresses that healthcare is not and should not be regarded as a general
good or service;

13.  Calls on the Council and the Member States to evaluate and implement
new measures to improve the effectiveness of their health expenditure, in
particular by investing in preventive healthcare so as to reduce future
longer-term costs and social burdens, and to restructure healthcare systems
in order to provide equitable access to high-quality healthcare (in
particular basic medical care) without discrimination throughout the EU, and
encourages the Commission to study the use of existing European funds in
order to further promote investment in health infrastructure, research and
training and to promote and step up disease prevention;

14.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that equitable
access to healthcare and treatment options for older patients are included
in their health policies and programmes and to make adequate access to
healthcare and treatments for older people a priority for ‘2012 European
Year for Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity’; calls on the
Member States to promote initiatives in order to tackle social isolation in
elderly patients as it has a significant impact on patients' longer-term
health; stresses the need for the European Union and its Member States to
anticipate, through an appropriate long-term strategy, the social and
economic impact of the ageing of the European population, in order to
guarantee the financial and organisational sustainability of healthcare
systems, as well as equal and continued delivery of care for patients;

15.  Calls on the Member States to improve their capacity to monitor
closely, at national, regional and local levels, the health and social
impact of the crisis;

16.  Calls on the Commission to foster the pooling of experience in
connection with health education, healthy lifestyle promotion, prevention,
early diagnosis and appropriate treatments, in particular in relation to
drinking, smoking, diet and obesity and drugs; calls on Member States to
promote physical activity, good nutrition and ‘Healthy Schools’ programmes
targeted at children, in particular in more disadvantaged areas, and to
improve levels of personal, social and health education, with view to
promoting healthier behaviour and encouraging positive lifestyle-related
behaviour;

17.  Encourages all the Member States to invest in social, educational,
environmental and health infrastructure in line with the principle of
‘health in all policies’,while coordinating measures concerning the
qualification, training and mobility of health professionals, thus
guaranteeing the capacity and sustainability of the health infrastructure
and workforce at both EU and national level;

18.  Emphasises that health inequalities in the Union will not be overcome
without a common and overall strategy for the European health workforce,
including coordinated policies for resource management, education and
training, minimum quality and safety standards, and registration of
professionals;

19.  Calls on the Member States to ensure that information on health,
healthy lifestyles, healthcare, prevention opportunities, early diagnosis of
diseases and suitable treatments is available in a form and in languages
that everyone can understand, using new information and communication
technologies, with particular reference to online health services;

20.  Calls on the Member States to promote the introduction of telemedicine
technologies, which can significantly reduce geographical disparities in
access to certain types of healthcare, with particular reference to
specialist care, in particular in border regions;

21.  Calls on the Member States to promote public policies aimed at ensuring
healthy life conditions for all infants, children and adolescents, including
pre-conception care, maternal care and measures to support parents and, more
particularly, pregnant and breast-feeding women, in order to ensure a
healthy start to life for all newborns and avoid further health
inequalities, thereby recognising the importance of investing in early child
development and life course approaches;

22.  Calls on the Member States to ensure that all pregnant women and
children, irrespective of their status, are entitled to and actually receive
social protection as defined in their national legislation;

23.  Recalls the EU's obligation, under the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities, to guarantee the right of persons with
disabilities to the highest attainable standard of health without
discrimination on the grounds of disability; insists that the inclusion of
disability in all relevant health measurement indicators is a key step
towards meeting this obligation;

24.  Calls on the EU and the Member States to include the health status of
women and the question of ageing (older women) as factors in gender
mainstreaming and to use gender budgeting in their health policies,
programmes and research, from the development and design stage through to
impact assessment; calls on the EU-funded framework research programmes and
public funding agencies to include a gender impact assessment in their
policies and to provide for the compilation and analysis of gender- and
age-specific data with a view to identifying key differences between women
and men in relation to health, in order to support policy change, and to
introduce and collate epidemiological tools to analyse the causes of the
life-expectancy gap between men and women;

25.  Considers that the EU and the Member States should guarantee women easy
access to methods of contraception and the right to safe abortion;

26.  Calls on the Commission to provide the Member States with examples of
good and best practices to encourage more uniform access to fertility
treatment;

27.  Urges the EU and the Member States to focus on women's human rights, in
particular by preventing, banning and prosecuting those guilty of the forced
sterilisation of women and female genital mutilation;

28.  Calls on the EU and the Member States to recognise male violence
against women as a public health issue, whatever form it takes;

29.  Calls on the EU and the Member States to take the necessary measures,
in relation to access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART), to
eliminate discrimination against women on the grounds of marital status,
sexual orientation or ethnic or cultural origins;

30.  Calls on the Member States to follow the World Health Organisation in
recognising obesity as a chronic disease and thus to provide access to
obesity-prevention programmes and guarantee access to treatment with proven
evidence of a positive medical outcome for persons suffering from obesity
who require medical treatment, also with a view to preventing the onset of
further diseases;

31.  Calls on the EU and the Member States to mainstream gender into tobacco
control, as recommended by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,
and to introduce anti-smoking campaigns targeting young girls and women;

32.  Calls on the Member States to encourage and support medical and
pharmaceutical research into illnesses that primarily affect women, with
reference to all phases of their lives and not only their reproductive
years;

33.  Calls on the Member States to solve problems of inequality in access to
healthcare that affect people's everyday lives, for example in the areas of
dentistry and ophthalmology;

34.  Suggests that the EU and the Member States introduce coherent policies
and supportive measures aimed at women who do not work or who hold jobs in
sectors where they are not covered by personal health insurance and seek
ways of providing such women with insurance;

35.  Urges the Commission, in the context of its collaboration with the
competent authorities of the Member States, to promote best practices on
pricing and reimbursement of the cost of medicines, including workable
models for pharmaceutical price differentiation so as to optimise
affordability and reduce inequalities in access to medicines;

36.  Recalls that the adoption of a European patent, with appropriate
language arrangements and a unified dispute-settlement system, is crucial
for the revitalisation of the European economy;

37.  Notes that the work already done in the Committee on the Internal
Market and Consumer Protection with regard to product safety and
advertising, among other subjects, has helped to address certain aspects of
health inequality in the EU, and, in that connection, stresses the
importance of closely monitoring the information which pharmaceuticals firms
provide to patients, particularly the most vulnerable and least
well-informed groups, and the need for an effective and independent system
of pharmacovigilance;

38.  Calls on the Member States to adapt their health systems to the needs
of the most disadvantaged by developing methods for setting the fees charged
by healthcare professionals which guarantee access to care for all patients;

39.  Urges the Commission to do its utmost to encourage Member States to
offer reimbursements to patients and to do everything necessary to reduce
inequalities in access to medication for the treatment of those conditions
or illnesses, such as post-menopausal osteoporosis and Alzheimer's Disease,
which are not reimbursable in certain Member States, and to do so as a
matter of urgency;

40.  Emphasises that, in addition to national governments, in many countries
regional authorities play an important role in public health, health
promotion, disease prevention and the provision of health services and thus
need to be actively involved; points out that regional and local governments
and other stakeholders also have a vital contribution to make, including
within workplaces and schools; in particular as regards health education,
the promotion of healthy lifestyles, effective disease prevention and early
screening and diagnosis of diseases;

41.  Calls on the Member States to support a ‘local care approach’ and to
provide integrated healthcare, accessible at local or regional level,
enabling patients to be better supported in their own local and social
environment;

42.  Encourage all the Member States to re-evaluate their policies on
matters which have a significant impact on health inequalities, such as
tobacco, alcohol, food, pharmaceuticals and public health and healthcare
delivery;

43.  Encourages the Member States to develop partnerships in border regions
in order to share the cost of infrastructure and personnel and reduce
inequalities with regard to health, particularly in respect of access to
state-of-the-art equipment;

44.  Asks the Commission to study the effects of decisions based on national
and regional assessments of the effectiveness of medicines and medical
devices on the internal market, including in terms of patient access,
innovation in new products and medical practices, which are some of the main
elements affecting health equality;

45.  Considers that the implementation of Directive 2011/24/EU on Patients'
Rights in Cross-Border Healthcare should be followed by impact assessments
in order to measure as accurately as possible its effectiveness in combating
health inequalities and to ensure that it maintains an adequate level of
public protection and safeguards patient safety, particularly in terms of
the geographical allocation of medical resources, both human and material;

46.  Notes that high-quality and efficient cross-border healthcare calls for
increased transparency of information for the public, patients, regulators
and healthcare providers on a wide range of issues, including patients'
rights, access to redress and the regulation of healthcare professionals;

47.  Deplores the fact that the directive on cross-border healthcare was not
accompanied by a legislative proposal on the mobility of healthcare
professionals, taking into account the risk of a ‘brain drain’ within the
EU, which would dangerously increase the geographical inequalities in
certain Member States, and calls on the Commission to remedy this failure,
possibly in the context of the future revision of the directive on
professional qualifications (2005/36/EC);

48.  Urges the Member States to implement fully the existing Professional
Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC); with regard to the complexity of
medical qualifications, encourages the Commission, in its evaluation and
review of the directive, to address some of the regulatory gaps that have
the potential to leave patients vulnerable to harm and compromise their
right to safe treatment; invites the Commission, further, to consider
whether to make registration with the IMI System mandatory for competent
authorities and improve the extent to which competent authorities can
proactively share disciplinary information about healthcare professionals by
creating an appropriate alert mechanism;

49.  Urges the Commission, in its forthcoming legislative proposal on
professional qualifications, to move towards a strengthened mechanism for
the recognition of qualifications in the Member States;

50.  Points out that increased innovation often leads to greater
accessibility of treatment, which is particularly relevant for isolated or
rural communities;

51.  Calls on the Commission to foster, in conjunction with the Member
States, the development of telemedicine services as a means of reducing
geographical disparities in healthcare provision at both regional and local
levels;

52.  Calls on the Council and the Commission to give greater recognition
within the Europe 2020 strategy to the fact that physical and mental health
and well-being are key to fighting exclusion, to include comparative
indicators stratified by socio-economic status and the state of public
health in the procedures for monitoring the Europe 2020 strategy, and to
take account of age-based discrimination, in particular in relation to
clinical trials for treatments better suited to the needs of elderly people;

53.  Considers that the EU and the Member States must support civil-society
and women's organisations that promote women's human rights, including their
sexual and reproductive rights, the right to a healthy lifestyle and the
right to work, with a view to ensuring that women have a voice on European
and national health policy issues;

54.  Encourages all the Member States to foster and build capacity and
international exchanges and cooperation between all relevant multi-sectoral
stakeholders in developing and implementing policies that reduce health
inequalities;

55.  Calls on the Member States to support and implement a joined-up
approach to policy-making at local, regional and national level, thereby
striving towards a Health in All Policies Approach (HiAP);

56.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop a common set
of indicators to monitor health inequalities by age, sex, socio-economic
status and geographic location and the risks resulting from alcoholism and
drug addiction, and to establish a methodology for auditing the health
situation in Member States with the aim of identifying and prioritising
areas in need of improvement and best practices;

57.  Stresses that health inequalities are rooted in social inequalities in
terms of living conditions and models of social behaviour linked to gender,
race, educational standards, employment and the unequal distribution not
only of income but also of medical assistance, sickness prevention and
health promotion services;

58.  Stresses that health risks to members of disadvantaged (poorer) social
categories are what is behind the problem of health inequalities, bearing in
mind that these risks are being aggravated by a combination of poverty and
other vulnerabilities;

59.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that the tasks of reducing health
inequalities and improving access to physical and mental health services are
fully addressed and integrated into its current initiatives, such as the
Partnership on Healthy and Active Ageing and the EU Platform against Poverty
and Social Exclusion, and into future initiatives on early childhood
development and youth policies focusing on education, training and
employment;

60.  Calls for better coordination between the EU agencies which have a
major role to play in combating health inequalities, in particular between
the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the
European Agency for Health and Safety at Work;

61.  Calls on the Commission to assist Member States in making better use of
the Open Method of Coordination in order to support projects to address
factors underlying health inequalities;

62.  Calls on the Commission to develop ways to engage and involve all the
relevant stakeholders at European level in promoting the uptake and
dissemination of good practice in the public health sphere;

63.  Draws attention to the particular importance, among the various health
determinants, of a varied, high-quality diet, and, in that connection, urges
the Commission to make greater use of the effective programmes established
under the CAP (free distribution of milk and fruit in schools and of food to
the most deprived groups);

64.  Calls on the Member States to create a network of specific social,
health and counselling services, with dedicated telephone helplines, for
women, couples and families, with the aim of preventing domestic violence
and providing qualified professional help and support for those needing it,
in cooperation with the other bodies in the field;

65.  Calls on the Commission to assist Member States in making better use of
EU cohesion policy and structural funds in order to support projects that
contribute to addressing the social determinants of health and reducing
health inequalities; calls, further, on the Commission to help Member States
make better use of the PROGRESS programme;

66.  Urges the Member States to stop the current cuts in public spending on
health services which play a pivotal role in providing a high level of
health protection for women and men;

67.  Calls on the Commission to mainstream an approach based on the economic
and environmental determinants of health and on ‘equity and health in all
policies’ when developing all internal and external EU policies, especially
with a view to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and in particular
good maternal health;

68.  Urge all the Member States to recognise the importance of health for
society and to look beyond a GDP-based approach when measuring societal,
community and individual development;

69.  Calls on the Council to promote efforts to tackle health inequalities
as a policy priority in all Member States, taking into account the social
determinants of health and lifestyle-related risk factors, such as alcohol,
tobacco and nutrition, by means of actions in policy areas such as consumer
policy, employment, housing, social policy, the environment, agriculture and
food, education, living and working conditions and research, in keeping with
the ‘health in all policies’ principle;

70.  Calls on the Commission to support actions financed under the current
and future Public Health Action Plans to address the social determinants of
health;

71.  Calls on the Commission to draw up guidelines to improve the mechanisms
to monitor inequalities in health across the EU (between and within Member
States) by enhancing data collection by compiling more systematic and
comparable information that complements existing data on health inequalities
and by means of regular monitoring and analysis;

72.  Asks the Commission to consider drafting a proposal for a Council
recommendation, or any other appropriate Community initiative, aimed at
encouraging and supporting the development by Member States of integrated
national or regional strategies to reduce health inequalities;

73.  Calls on the Commission to assess, in its progress reports, the
effectiveness of measures to reduce health inequalities and improvements in
health resulting from policies relating to the social, economic and
environmental determinants of health;

74.  Calls on the Commission to apply the HiAP approach to EU-level
policy-making and carry out effective impact assessments that take health
equity outcomes into account;

75.  Argues that open, competitive and properly functioning markets can
stimulate innovation, investment and research in the healthcare sector, and
recognises that this must be accompanied by strong financial support for
public research in order to further develop sustainable and effective
healthcare models and to promote the development of new technologies and
their applications in this field (e.g. telemedicine), and by a common health
technology assessment methodology, all of which should benefit every
individual, including those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, whilst
taking into account the ageing of the population;

76.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support public
information and awareness-raising programmes and step up dialogue with civil
society, the social partners and NGOs regarding health and medical services;

77.  Regards it as essential to increase the number of women involved in the
development of healthcare policies, programme planning and the provision of
healthcare services;

78.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and
the Commission.
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