The Project

 

Introduction and general objective:

The general objective of the project is the production of a "Report on Health in the European Union" (hereinafter mentioned as the Report) extending from 1998 till the most recently available data. This Report is intended to be a reference publication providing general information on health status of the European population and on associated time-trends. Moreover, the Report is also intended to provide a valuable tool for the European Commission, national policy makers and other stakeholders to monitor impacts of main health interventions and policies. This project intends to be respectful of the data gathering systems existing at national level or in other contexts and there is no implication that such systems should be harmonized or modified. Selection of indicators and data sources will be preferentially based on the work of current and past EC funded projects. This project aims at developing and applying a consensus methodology and mechanism. The Ministries of Health of the EU Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries, Community Institutions, International Organizations and selected stakeholders will be involved in its preparation. The project will carry out an evaluation of the Report as to its capacity to fulfil the expectations and needs of different categories of readers.

Contents, objectives and format of the Report:

The format, contents and objectives of the Report will be defined through a consensus meeting of the associated partners, Community Institutions and International Organizations (such as EUROSTAT, ECDC and WHO) and consultation with the co-ordinating and advisory structures of the Community health information and knowledge system. The present project proposal is based on a Table of Contents, which should however be considered provisional pending its adoption in the first meeting of the partners.

Production of the Report:

Based on the agreement reached among the partners, after consulting potential contributors (chosen as far as possible among the experts of the EUHIKS Working Parties and other SANCO advisory bodies), Organizations responsible for international databases and other stakeholders, available information and data are collated, elaborated, communicated and made available section by section to the partners and authors. Structured data will be preferentially taken from international databases; the partners and contributors may provide additional relevant information and documents which are in their knowledge. The contributors will analyse the available information and data according to predefined guidelines which ensure a systematic treatment of the aspects of major relevance to public health and a harmonized treatment of subjects all throughout the Report. and On the basis of the guidelines, the contributors will prepare drafts of the Report chapters or sections which will be submitted to a refereeing process. The different Report chapters or sections will be completed and integrated into a final draft Report, which will be circulated through the network and approved in an ad hoc Conference with the participation of all network members. The draft full Report will be made available to other selected stakeholders to consider their comments before the finalization of the Report.

Dissemination of the Report:

The Report in English and the Executive Summary in at least 20 European languages will be produced in hypertext format and published in the web sites of the project and the European Commission. Terms present in all tabulated data and plots will make up a glossary in at least 20 European languages. Moreover, copies of the Report and its Executive Summary will be published in CD-rom and distributed to the Commission bodies, EU Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries and International Organizations.

Visibility:

The visibility of all the contributing information sources will be ensured with the inclusion, in all the versions of the Report, of the acknowledgments and hyperlinks to their web sites. Moreover, the Report will be presented in an EU Conference. A press release on the Report will be prepared and distributed before the Conference to major media operators of the EU Member States.

Evaluation of the Report:

An evaluation of the Report for its capacity of fulfilling the expectations and needs of the different categories of users will be carried out.

* Bundesministerium fuer Gesundheit und Frauen (AT); Scientific Institute of Public Health (BE); Ministry of Health (CY); Institute of Health Information and Statistics (CZ); Robert Koch Institute (DE); Ministry of the Interior and Health (DK); Ministry of Social Affairs (EE); Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo (ES); National Research and Development Centre for Wellfare and Health (FI); Haut Comité de la santé publique (FR); Dept. Mechanical Engineering, University of Patras (GR); Johan Bela National Centre for Epidemiology (HU); Dept. of Health and Children (IE); Lithuanian Health Information Centre (LT); Direction de la Santé (LU); Public Health Agency (LV); Department of Health Information (MT); National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (NL); Norwegian Insitute of Public Health (NO); National Institute of Higiene (PL); Direccao General da Saude (PT); Ministry of Health (SI); National Board of Health and Welfare (SE); Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic (SK); Ministry of Health (TR); Department of Health (UK).

** At present: Ministry of Health and Social Wellfare (HR); Ministry of Health and Social Security (IS); Ministry of Health and Care Services (NO); Ministry of Health (RO); Council of Europe; WHO-EURO; OECD Health Division; EUROSTAT; EEA; ECDC; EMCDDA.