Health-EU

"World free of TB" – addressing the needs of vulnerable groups

by Aljona Kurbatova, Head of the Infectious Diseases and Drug Abuse Prevention Department, Estonian National Institute for Health Development

Many people think that tuberculosis is a thing of the past. The reality is that chances are slim that this disease will be eradicated this century. It claimed the lives of 1.5 million people in 2013, according to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2014, and it is particularly devastating to know that these deaths were preventable.  

An estimated 9 million people developed TB in 2013, including 480 000 who developed multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB, which is a rising threat. In 30 EU/EEA countries, 64 844 cases of TB were reported, which was 6.0% less than in 2012, but cases of multidrug resistant TB and ext [...]

In this edition

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Also in this focus

Health Programme Projects »

TUBIDU – Empowering civil society and public health systems to fight tuberculosis epidemic among vulnerable grou

IMPACT - Innovations and Multisectoral Partnerships to Achieve Control of Tuberculosis Project

Correlation Network - European Social Inclusion and Health

WHO Scaling-up Harm Reduction

Health Promotion for Young Prisoners

News from the EU 

EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis visits the European Medicines Agency on its 20th anniversary  »

2015 marks the agency's 20th anniversary and the introduction of a single marketing authorisation for medicines throughout the EU, and also celebrates 50 years of collaboration and harmonisation of the rules and laws that govern the regulation of medicines in the EU.

First Ministerial Conference on Global Action Against Dementia organised by WHO  »

The 16 – 17 March conference was attended by Ministers from around the world, experts from the research, clinical and NGO communities, , as well as by European Commission SANTE Acting Director General Ladislav Miko, to discuss the global problems posed by dementia.

Reporting from across Europe 

Tobacco free Ireland: plain cigarette packaging signed into law  [Ireland]  »

President Higgins has signed a law introducing plain packaging on cigarette packs and banning companies from producing branded tobacco products for the Irish market from May 2016 and from selling them from May 2017.

New publications 

Does Electromagnetic Field Exposure endanger health?  »

This easy -to-read factsheet summarises the new Opinion on this topic by the Scientific Committee on Newly Emerging Environmental Health Risks.

Final report of the State of Health of Vaccination in the EU conference  »

Italian Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin and DG Sante Public Health Acting Director John Ryan attended the 3 November 2014 conference in Rome, where topics included everything from measles and influenza to barriers to vaccine acceptance.

EU Press Releases 

Over 97% of foods in EU are within legal limits for pesticide residues  »

The European Food Safety Authority's 2013 annual report on pesticide residues in food is based on 81,000 food samples from 27 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. Other good news: almost 55% of the samples showed no detectable traces of chemicals.

Forthcoming events 

1st Eastern Partnership Ministerial Conference on Tuberculosis and Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (Riga, Latvia, 30 – 31 March 2015)  »

Under the Latvian presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Latvian Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Commission and WHO Europe and Eastern Partnership countries, international institutions and nongovernmental bodies will take part in this conference aimed to help reduce the burden of tuberculosis and ultimately eliminate it.

eHealth week (Riga, Latvia, 11 – 13 May 2015)  »

Besides the two main events, the High Level eHealth Conference and the World of Health IT Conference and Exhibition, the week includes the mHealth Summit Europe, EU SME eHealth Competition and an exhibition with pavilions from around the world.