Yes to European public health

The World Health Organisation recently approved an ambitious eight-year European health plan during the 62nd regional meeting held in Malta. The Health 2020 plan aims to increase life expectancy and reduce health inequalities in the 53-country WHO European region.

We can use the crisis as a catalyst to induce policy change and rethink health policy-making- Ann Marie Borg

The adoption of this common health policy roadmap for the years to come is not only a win for European public health but also for Malta, for Europe’s citizens and Europe’s future.

According to WHO regional director for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab, “a European policy could be the beginning of a new united fight to save not just the lives of the citizens of today’s Europe, but also those of generations to come”.

Health 2020 is a vision reviving the very essence of public health in Europe, moving away from the notion of treatment and healthcare and focusing on the social factors that have a profound impact on our lives and our health while reducing the omnipresence of health inequalities.

In Europe, in the past two years, we have been surrounded by voices, haunting voices of financial and economic crisis, bailouts, budget cuts, dwindling resources, austerity.

Many European governments, compelled to rescue banks, replied to these voices by turning to fiscal consolidation. But what about their political desire to rescue health?

Unfortunately, health becomes an easy target to cut down on when faced with financial turmoil. Yet, health remains an essential prerequisite for the Europe we want to shape, a fundamental human right, a value, a social asset.

Despite lessons learnt from past recessions that rapid economic shocks are key health hazards, the European discourse since the start of the financial crisis emphasised economic governance and growth.

Decision-makers in Europe often resorted to short-term thinking due to budgetary pressures, making ‘unpopular’ reforms that pre-date the crisis politically acceptable, possibly ignoring their actions’ social and health effects.

Soon, they realised that reducing social protection systems with vulnerable people falling out of social safety nets is not an answer to our economic catastrophe.

The economic crisis is also a human crisis, with people suffering from austerity policies and badly aimed political decisions. The European health policy should serve as a guideline when other policies touch on those social factors that impinge health or core societal values like solidarity and equality.

The crisis and its mismanagement is exacerbating health differences between socio-economic groups between and within countries in Europe. The health gap is widening, and from an equity point of view we are doing worse than in the 1970s.

If the vulnerable are not protected and public health begins to deteriorate, infectious diseases that we have fought to eradicate in the past decades will reappear. Consolidating past successes in public health is important when facing the scourges of the present and the challenges of the future.

In the midst of an economic and sovereign debt crisis, the voices of European public health must not remain silent and we must enhance our endeavour to protect public health. We can tackle the crisis without jeopardising health; we can use the crisis as a catalyst to induce policy change and rethink health policy-making.

Throughout history, change is often preceded by a crisis, a revolution, an epidemic, a disaster. Let’s not waste this crisis but use it to put health as an issue of public concern at the heart of our political agenda.

Public health is about us. In order to achieve it, governments have to invest in it for the benefit of the public good. Decision-makers and policy-makers should continue to acknowledge its value and invest more in health, giving it the voice it deserves.

Ms Borg is doing an MSc in European Public Health at Maastricht University and recently conducted research on the current economic crisis in the EU and health inequalities.