Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin concludes the meeting between the European health ministers

After a report from the Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the situation in terms of the organisation of public health security in Europe, in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Minister invited her colleagues to participate in an exercise simulating a serious threat to public health.

The 27 EU ministers (or their representatives) and four ministers representing Croatia, Turkey, Norway and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were then called on to discuss the decisions envisaged – communication, regulating travel, the use and stock-piling of health products – with regard to two crisis scenarios at European level (yellow fever and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The need to communicate rapidly in as coordinated a manner as possible at European level emerged from this exercise. The ministers felt that cooperation was a gauge of the effectiveness of the actions taken. After the exercise, the ministers discussed the stakes and the ways in which coordination could be enhanced at European level.

The ministers also emphasised the need for an intersectoral approach to public health crises (continuity of essential services, of transport and economic activity), thus furthering the conclusions of the ‘Euroflu’ seminar held from 3 to 5 September in Angers, which had been presented to them during the first plenary session.
The discussions also covered the establishment and management of strategic stocks of health products and the possible effectiveness of imposing restrictions on travel.

The ministers also took the opportunity to discuss the disruption in the supply of technetium with which the Member States are currently confronted. At the request of Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, the Presidency, the Commission and the Member States will work together to examine the ways to optimise the management of the current scarcity – mainly on the recommendations of health professionals – the continuity of the supply, the possibilities of using non-European resources to meet needs and the conditions for an equitable distribution of limited resources. An extraordinary meeting of the Health Security Committee to examine this subject in more detail will be held shortly.

On the basis of these two-day discussions, the Presidency will compile and present some conclusions on public health security to the Health Council of the European Union at its next meeting on 15 and 16 December in Brussels.

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Informal meeting of the ministers for health (Announcement)

• Updated: 26.11.2008

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