Public health: Community action programme 1997-2001 on health monitoring

OBJECTIVE : introduction of a five-year Community action programme (1 January 1997 to 31 December 2001) which seeks to contribute to the establishment of a Community health monitoring system. COMMUNITY MEASURE : European Parliament and Council Decision 1400/97/EC adopting a Community action programme for health monitoring in the area of public health. CONTENT : The programme is adopted for the period 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2001 and its objective is to contribute towards the establishment of a monitoring system which will make it possible : - to measure health status, trends and determinants throughout the Community, - to facilitate the planning, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and Community measures, - to provide Member States with appropriate information on health which will enable comparisons to be made and support to be given to national health policies. These objectives are to be met through the eligible measures described in the annex and by encouraging cooperation between the Member States, if necessary by supporting their actions, promoting the coordination of their policies and strengthening cooperation with third countries and competent international organisations. -Eligible actions : three types of action are to be developed: 1) the establishment of Community health indicators: . the identification and critical examination of health data and indicators at European and Member State level, using databases which have been validated by them, . the identification of Community health indicators which are designed to provide Member States with common measures by which comparisons can be made (a non-exhaustive list of the fields in which health indicators could be established is proposed in the annex to the decision. This list includes indicators relating to health status, life-style and health habits, living and working conditions, health protection, demographic and social factors, etc.), . development and support of the systematic collection of health data and a guarantee that data supplied are comparable (data dictionaries and development of conversion methods), .collection of comparable data for the preparation of surveys which are needed for drawing up Community policies, .promotion of cooperation with competent international organisations in the area of Community health indicators, .support for the feasibility of compiling standardised statistics on health resources with a view to their integration in the future health monitoring system, . support for the feasibility study currently under way on the setting up of a permanent structure which will be responsible for monitoring health data and indicators in the Community area; 2) development of a Community network for sharing health data which will primarily employ telematics-based data exchange and a Community-wide database system; 3) analyses and reports: .to promote and support the establishment of an analysis capacity while reinforcing existing capacity and evaluating new capacity, .support for analysing the impact of Community programmes in the field of public health, .support for the preparation and dissemination of reports and analyses on health trends and determinants. -Budget : ECU 13.8 million for the 5 years of the programme. -Implementation: the European Commission implements this programme in close collaboration with the Member States and organisations in the public health sector. It is assisted by a committee which operates according to the joint committee procedure (that is to say, it acts as a management committee when taking major decisions and as an advisory committee when dealing with other matters). -Coherence and complementarity: coherence and complementarity are actively pursued along with other Community initiatives affecting this sector (particularly in the area of telematics-based data exchange, research programmes, etc.). -International cooperation: cooperation with third countries and competent international organisations in the field of public health is encouraged (WHO, OECD, ILO). The programme is also open to all associated countries of central and eastern Europe, as well as to Cyprus and Malta. -Monitoring and evaluation : the Commission is to ensure that the measures taken are evaluated, taking into account the balance sheets drawn up by the Member States. It is to submit an interim report to the European Parliament and the Council (containing information on the measures receiving financial support) before 30 June 2000. A final report will also be submitted by 30 June 2003 at the latest. On the basis of these various evaluations, the Commission will, if necessary, present proposals for the furtherance of this programme. -Declarations : in annex to the decision, la Commission makes a declaration stating that during the implementation of the next Community statistics programme (1998-2002), the Commission is to pay special attention to the development of statistics in the field of health monitoring. For its part, Parliament undertakes to support this action during the budgetary procedure. ENTRY INTO FORCE: 30/06/1997. �