Informele vergadering ministers van volksgezondheid (en)
The ministers for health from the Member States will meet for an informal meeting on 8 and 9 September 2008, at the Convention Centre in Angers.
The ministers for health from the Member States will get together on 8 and 9 September 2008 at the Convention Centre in Angers for an informal meeting chaired by Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, French Minister for Health, Youth, Sport and the Voluntary Sector.
This meeting will focus on public health security, one of the priorities set by the French Presidency in the health field. It will form part of the 18-month programme prepared with the French Presidency's partners, the Czech Republic and Sweden, which will be the next States to preside over the Council of the European Union. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss in concrete terms the coordination of cross-border public health risk management within the European Union.
In recent years, several epidemics have broken out such as SARS and bird flu. In future, the European Union wishes to be able to respond to such public health risks in a rapid and coordinated manner.
At the meeting in Angers, the European authorities will present a review of the European public health security system. They will also present the results of work carried out by the Eurogrippe (Euroflu) seminar, to be held on 3-5 September in Angers, aimed at reducing critical divergences in the different preparatory plans for a flu pandemic.
Moreover, the ministers will be able to participate in innovative case studies on the theme of public health security. These aim to favour a political rather than a technical approach. This should allow them to compare their national practices regarding responses to a public health security alert and to examine ways of organising, with the support of the European Commission, a coordinated response at the EU level.
Informal meeting of the ministers for health: Provisional programme