The first conference on health inequalities in the new Member States Policy makers and patients - creators of change

Health inequalities are recognized as a major problem across Europe, all these problems being exacerbated by the current financial crisis. This issue was debated at the Conference from Sofia. Representatives of the European institutions, national administrations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) were invited to debate, drawing on the perspective of patients and their individual and collective expertise.
The event was initiated and organized by the National Organization for Patients Bulgaria, in collaboration with the European Patients Forum (EPF) and under the patronage of Mrs. Desislava Atanasova, Minister of Health of Bulgaria and Mr Andrey Kovatchev, MEP. They also attended the event Croatian Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Cesarik Marijan and Mrs. Parvanova Antoniya, MEP, and representatives of ministries of health in the 12 new Member States.
The purpose of the conference was to create an opportunity for patients and policy makers to discuss needs and gaps in national healthcare systems.
The preliminary results of a study on quality of care were presented, study conducted with representatives of patient organizations in the CEE region. The opening session was followed by a set of video recorded interviews with patients in the CEE region, including Romania (Daniel Andrew - hemophilia). They spoke about their daily lives; they shared their xperience in relation to the health care system in their country.
The next three sessions focused on sharing experiences and assessing health inequalities in the CEE region, offering different national perspectives, challenges faced by patients in everyday life, institutional cooperation and involvement of patients in European policymaking.
On the second day of the conference, delegates were divided into three working groups to discuss EU health strategy, how this meets the needs of patients, which are steps towards reducing health inequalities in the EU and which are the steps that patients need to take in order to become more involved in the development of health policies.
The conference concluded with the presentation of the results of the working groups and the adoption of a resolution. Resolution goal is to create and implement a coherent and cost-effective strategy for new EU member states and candidate countries, to adequately address the issue of health inequalities.
 

Dorica Dan, President RPWA

Data: 
Tuesday, June 19, 2012