Two sets of conclusions on public health are being drafted by the Council of the European Union: the first concerns H1N1 flu and the second deals with action against cancer. Both insist on the need for closer collaboration between member states.

H1N1: Following the World Health Organisation’s announcement, on 10 August, of the end of the 16-month long H1N1 flu pandemic, the Council’s working group on public health will stress the need to improve European health security coordination. In its draft conclusions, which will be reviewed on 13 September by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the member states (Coreper), it proposes to develop a joint mechanism for the procurement of vaccines and anti-viral drugs that would allow the member states to purchase such products together, on a voluntary basis. It also urges the member states to coordinate their actions more closely, communicate better and share information more swiftly. The draft conclusions also press the European Commission to review its flu pandemic preparedness plan to reduce the impact of a pandemic on society and to ensure a flexible and proportionate response adapted to the gravity of the situation. The working group also endorses the idea of temporarily prolonging the mandate of the Health Security Committee and calls for a longer-term solution by 2011. The Health Security Committee is an informal cooperation and coordination body launched by the member states’ health ministers in 2001.

Cancer: The second set of conclusions, also scheduled to be analysed on 13 September by Coreper and put to the vote at the following session, primarily concerns the European Partnership for Action Against Cancer, set up in mid-2009 with the aim of developing a framework for the identification and exchange of information, capacities and competences on prevention and treatment. The working group asks the Commission to provide the scientific and technical assistance needed to ensure the partnership’s success and to report to the Council at the end of the partnership’s initial phase on its effectiveness. The member states are requested to develop and implement, by the end of 2013, overarching strategies or plans to combat cancer, basing their efforts on detection, prevention, access to care and follow-up. European guidelines on quality assurance in detection should also be updated regularly, notes the working group.

Barring an adverse opinion from Coreper, the two sets of documents are expected to be adopted without debate at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, on 29 and 30 September.

The conclusions are available at www.europolitics.info > Search = 277514