Byrne: health "moving to the EU political centre":
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Healthcare issues are being accorded an increasingly high profile in the EU, David Byrne, the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, noted during his keynote speech at the launch event for the European Centre For Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). "The last five years have seen the political profile of health policy steadily increase. Health has steadily moved from the margins to the centre of the EU's political agenda," he said, addressing senior health officials and politicians from around Europe, North America and Asia. The ECDC, which will among other things act as an EU epidemiological surveillance point and round-the-clock early warning and response system with the availability of specialists in communicable diseases, is due to start work in May next year. See also Clinica No 1125, p 9.