Busy times for EAPM, health care does not wait

Good afternoon, health colleagues, and welcome to the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) update, which today focuses on different policy developments, writes EAPM Executive Director Dr. Denis Horgan.

Upcoming articles

EAPM will be very busy during July, preparing numerous health-related articles and events, as we have referred to in previous updates, so make sure you keep in touch over the next few weeks before the big summer break!

Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority

Finally, negotiators have announced a deal this week (29 June) on the serious cross-border threats to health regulation on Thursday evening - the Commission’s decision to make the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) a Directorate General — and in the process vexing both the European Parliament and the Council — held up talks. 

While this marks the last file in that original legislative package, the health union has steadily widened to include new initiatives since then, including Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the European Health Data Space, and most recently, the Healthier Together non-communicable diseases initiative. 

The regulation seeks to strengthen and broaden the EU’s abilities to both prepare for, and respond to, health threats like deadly pandemics. It requires member countries to submit reports on their state of preparedness, and allows the ECDC to carry out audits. It also allows the Commission to declare EU-level health emergencies, which triggers expanded monitoring and response capabilities. 

Czechs take over EU presidency braced for ‘bad weather’ 

The Czech Republic will take over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union on Friday (1 July) with all eyes on Ukraine, which has been battling Russian forces since February. To kick off its presidency, the Czech government will meet European commissioners at a chateau for talks, followed by a concert. But the Czech turn at the helm – taking over from France – is unlikely to offer much leisure as the war rages on four months into the Russian invasion, analysts say. 

“This presidency is not geared for good weather, but for bad times,” Pavel Havlicek of the Prague-based Association for International Affairs told AFP. The Central European country of 10.5 million people, an EU-member since 2004, has vowed to focus largely on aid to Ukraine and the war’s repercussions. 

It wants to help contain the refugee crisis, launch a post-war reconstruction effort, boost the EU’s energy security, defence capacities and economic resilience, and improve the resilience of its democratic institutions. “All the priorities are very well chosen and if we manage to put at least some of them on the table, start talks with partners and reach at least some decisions, I’d say we will not have wasted time,” said Havlicek.

Pollution causing 10% of cancer cases

With more than three million new patients and 1.3 million deaths each year, cancer has become one of the main priorities of the European Commission in the health domain — prompting legislative proposals to reduce air and water pollution, in a bid to reduce human exposure to environmental cancer risks. EEA chief Hans Bruyninckx said that cutting pollution would be "an effective investment" in citizens' well-being. 

"We see the impact pollution in our environment has on the health and quality of life of European citizens and that is why preventing pollution is so crucial to our wellbeing," he said in a statement. Air pollution itself is attributable to around one percent of all cancer cases, in particular of the lung, and around two percent of all cancer deaths in Europe. 

But recent studies have also found a link between long-term exposure to particulate matter (a type of air pollutant) and leukaemia, the EEA says. While the EU set legally-binding air quality standards to tackle air pollution in 2015, the vast majority of the population in Europe is still exposed to air pollutant concentrations above the international air quality guidelines by the World Health Organization.

Non-communicable diseases initiative

The European Commission is launching an initiative to support member states in reducing the burden of addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the EU. The initiative, called Healthier Together, will be funded by €156 million from the 2022 work programme for EU4Health and will cover NCDs such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. 

According to the Commission, NCDs are responsible for 80% of the total disease burden in the EU and are the leading causes of avoidable premature deaths. “Our ambition is to turn some of the knowledge that we have developed together over the recent years into concrete action to the benefit of our citizens – and to reduce some of the unacceptable health inequalities that we see across our union,” Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides said at an event presenting the initiative on Wednesday (June 22). 

“One of the plan’s guiding principles is that prevention will always be better than cure,” she added. The guiding document describes how the initiative identifies effective actions and the available legal and financial supporting tools across five main areas: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, mental health and neurological disorders, as well as their main contributing factors. 

In her speech, the Commissioner reiterated the concerns that NCDs do not just impact the quality of life, but also have a substantial burden on social systems and the economy, which is expected to grow. 

The Commission has already taken action when it comes to cancer with the EU Beating Cancer Plan, presented in 2021. “This is the first time we’re tackling non-communicable diseases so systematically and comprehensively like with the cancer plan,” Kyriakides said. She praised the initiative for identifying both national and EU priorities for preventing disease while also spelling out the financial tools available for countries to implement the actions. 

This initiative also comes on top of a long period where health systems have been on alert while the COVID-19 pandemic has spread.

COVID certificate

MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour on Thursday of extending the COVID certificate system by another 12 months. The rules will now extend until the end of June 2023. “Even though the spread of the virus is under control, we still live in a pandemic,” MEP Heléne Fritzon (S&D) said. “Therefore, today’s vote on extending the certificate for one more year was important for the safety of our citizens.” 

In terms of an Impact assessment: Expect an assessment from the Commission of the COVID certificate’s impact on free movement and fundamental rights by the end of the year. The Commission can also propose repealing the certificate if the epidemiological situation permits it. The extension still has to be adopted by the Council. 

European Health Union: Protecting Europeans against cross-border health threats - lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic 

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of coordination among European countries to protect people’s health and boost preparedness in view of new cross-border health threats. The EU and its member states coordinate and cooperate in the field of health security and medicines safety. Risk and crisis management are the responsibility of member states. 

The EU has, however, the competence to support, coordinate and complement national actions. Monitoring, early warning, preparedness and response measures to combat serious cross-border threats to health are essential elements to ensure a high level of health protection in the European Union. On 23 June 2022, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the new EU law on serious cross-border threats to health. This is the final building block for the European Health Union, protecting Europeans against health threats.

And that is everything from EAPM for now. A very happy mid-point of the year to you all, 2 July, and here’s to the upcoming summer holidays! Stay safe and well, and enjoy your weekend.

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