Who is the European Health Union?

Sandra Gallina, Director General at Directorate-General Sante (DG SANTE), tells us the purpose of the European Health Union, formed in 2020, which sets out to provide a healthier tomorrow thanks to the actions of today

These recent and challenging years have led the eyes of the world to shift their gaze firmly onto the public policy of healthcare.

Indeed, the devastation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the importance of working together to protect and improve the health and lives of our Union’s citizens.

It is this spirit of collaboration that sparked the European Health Union into life in 2020. In the darkest days of the pandemic, work was already underway to build such a Union.

The challenges we face are clear: the shortages of medicines, the cracks in supply chains, and the inequality of access to medicines between Member States.

To uphold our principles of equality, we must ensure that such gaps are reduced and that citizens can avail of the same treatments and medicines no matter where they live.

To achieve this goal, we must rethink the structures of the past and look to the future and embrace innovation. This will be done through a more efficient and future-looking framework.

The recent proposal to revise the pharmaceutical rules does this by rewarding those who bring innovative medicines to the market, with further incentives for launching in all Member States.

This creates an environment that values a new forward-looking approach to create a single market for medicines, equally available to every citizen, regardless of whether they live in a large or small Member State.

Medicines supplies in the EU

Medicines are the lifeblood of an efficient healthcare system, and that is why it is crucial that we ensure a clear, uninterrupted path from research laboratories to manufacturers, all the way to patients via pharmacies and hospitals across the EU.

Our proposal, tabled in April, includes practical measures to strengthen the security and continuity of supply of medicines in the EU.

These include new requirements for the monitoring and management of shortages of medicines by national authorities and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which will also be afforded a stronger coordination role to be up to the task.

In addition, companies will be bound by new obligations to report shortages and withdrawals of medicines at an earlier stage as well as maintaining Shortage Prevention Plans for all medicines.

The sooner the signal can be raised, the greater the possibility for mitigation or prevention of the shortage.

Other targeted measures include the establishment of an EU list of critical medicines, for which the Commission can adopt legally binding measures to strengthen the security of their supply.

These multiple and diverse tools in our toolbox will be used to reduce the risk of shortages. But as with the pandemic, we must also continue to innovate to keep up with new and ever-changing challenges that may lie ahead of us all.

The days of a ‘one-size-fits-all ‘model is for yesterday, not tomorrow. We want to empower each citizen to be the master of their own health, not only through better access to the medicines they need but also through the way health data is used.

European Health Data Space (EHDS)

The European Health Data Space (EHDS), unveiled just over a year ago, will empower individuals across the EU to exercise their rights over their health data fully – enabling citizens to digitally access and share their data with health professionals when they want and how they want – at home and abroad.

At the same time, the EHDS will also improve the re-use of health data for research, innovation, regulatory and policy-making purposes in full compliance with data protection requirements whilst protecting individuals’ privacy.

Using just one example of how EHDS benefits us all; it will make data on various types of cancers more widely available and in a timelier way.

It will also strengthen cancer registry systems which play an important role in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan in informing cancer prevention strategies, diagnostics, and treatments.

Health legislation fit for the 21st century

Though recent years have brought about unpreceded challenges, the EU is firmly looking ahead and not back, updating health legislation to make it fit for purpose in the 21st century while firmly travelling down the digital path to ensure our Union best serves its citizens wherever they may be and ensure a stronger Health Union for years to come.