Health for Growth?

Everybody knows that we’re in the middle of a crisis. People have less money in their pockets; young people are graduating from university with no job to go to. The future of the Euro hangs in the balance.

But it’s not just the health of our economy that’s suffering, the health and wellbeing of ordinary people is feeling the strain of the crisis. Last year there was a 40% rise in suicides in Greece. In the UK we are seeing our National Health Service being pulled apart.

Now more than ever we need a strong health programme in the EU. Of course EU countries all run their own healthcare systems, but working at a European level can add real value. By sharing data, research, ideas and policies across our continent we can achieve much better results for patients than we could if we worked alone.

Look at the work that’s been done under previous EU health programmes on screening guidelines for breast, cervical and now colorectal cancer. By working together we’ve raised the standards across Europe and saved the lives of thousands of people who, without screening, would not have found their cancer until it was too late.

Work has already begun on co-ordinating research into Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, which, as the population ages across Europe, is one of the biggest challenges for our future. Rather than each European country collecting the necessary data, carrying out their own research and trying out different policy solutions, we can work together across the EU to deal with this growing problem much more efficiently.

And if you look at the rise in obesity, which the World Health Organisation describes as one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century, we need to work at a European level. So much of our legislation on food and nutrition labelling is made in Brussels that it would be stupid not to.

I’m currently working on the proposals for the new EU ‘Health for Growth’ programme for 2014-2020. And there’s a lot of work to do, starting with the name, which I want to change to ‘Health for All’. For me health is an invaluable thing in itself, and it shouldn’t be seen as a way to make money. Of course we do have to look at it in the context of the current economic situation, and I think that means looking at prevention strategies as much as possible. If we can tackle smoking, alcohol abuse, unbalanced diets and physical inactivity now, we will save huge amounts of money treating entirely preventable chronic diseases later down the line. But above all our goal should be healthier and happier people, who will, of course, contribute to a healthier economy.

Homophobia: European leaders tell young people It Gets Better

In this unique video message, Members of the European Parliament tell young people it gets better in 17 different languages, from Italian to Bulgarian and Swedish to Polish.

Visit the website of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights for more information.

Europe can help address the “quieter crisis”

Europe can provide real added value to some of the problems arising from ageing populations, local MEP Glenis Willmott has said.

Mrs Willmott, Labour MEP for the East Midlands said: “While the economic crisis loudly rumbles on, a much quieter crisis is happening all around us, in every country in the European Union.

“With ageing populations, there are more and more people suffering from neuro-degenerative diseases.   Already over 35 million people are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias worldwide, with this number due to double by 2030.

Labour’s European spokesperson on Public Health explained how new EU proposals included in the Health for Growth Programme could provide real added value.

“We need to share data about dementia, collecting it in a similar way, allowing us all to compare results, and we also need to coordinate our research into the disease.

“And we have to look at common policies. How can we make sure people are diagnosed early? How do we ease the burden on families the patient?

“The EU’s Health for Growth programme offers opportunities to work together across the EU, taking the best that Europe can provide, while allowing individual governments the freedom and autonomy to deliver effective health care in their own way.

“And while attention is understandably devoted to the crisis in the Eurozone, we must not miss out on chances to work together on issues in other fields, most notably public health.

Euromyths and other fairy tales

Today’s Daily Express front page story “Go to Britain for benefits says EU” claimed that “meddling Euro MPs have provoked fury by heralding a £4million scheme to publicise Britain’s lucrative benefits and health care system to people from across the Continent”.

This particular “story” refers to the European Year of Citizens 2013 which, far from publicising Britain’s benefit system, will actually promote citizens’ rights, including voting rights, consumer rights and right to work and study across the EU.

Within a couple of hours, Labour MEPs had produced a rebuttal.  But, despite this, the latest euromyth is born.

Like death and taxes, it seems they will always be with us. They have become part of the political fixtures and fittings, the tabloids love them, they have a special section devoted to correcting them on the European Commission website , they have a Wikipedia entry and the BBC even published a guide to the “best euromyths” as part of its coverage of the European Union at 50 a couple of years ago.

The most famous – or infamous – is the Brussels ban on bent bananas, which has been around so long no one can quite remember if Brussels was supposed to have banned bent or straight bananas or whether it might have been cucumbers anyway.

A quick survey of some recent additions to the euromyth library reveals that the EU is banning high heels for hairdressers, while insisting on hairnets for fishermen!  And apparently those “barmy Brussels bureaucrats” are forcing the closure of Britain’s final salary pension schemes, demanding EU flags on England football shirts, banning children blowing up balloons, while allowing experiments on stray cats and dogs.

Except, of course, they’re doing nothing of the sort.   As ever, the key part of the word “euromyth” is the “myth” bit!    But certain British tabloids rarely let facts get in the way of a good headline.

And, as time goes by, myth and reality become indistinguishable.   Many people remember the infamous European Commission “plan” to insist on re-naming British sausages as “emulsified high-fat offal tubes”.   You may even recall that a successful campaign to see off the dastardly Europeans was led by a certain Jim Hacker.   Not the real world, but the BBC comedy “Yes Minister.”

That’s why it’s useful every now and then to remind ourselves of what the EU actually has done – as opposed to the euromyth.

Things like rights for people at work, such as more protection for the consumer, such as cleaner air and water  . . . . and such as legislation to bring cheaper mobile phone bills – passed in the European Parliament just the other week.

Can anything be done to correct the record?  I suspect not.  Unfortunately, though many of us challenge these myths whenever we hear them, the readership of our collective e-bulletins, websites and blogs still doesn’t quite reach the levels of the Daily Express.