Health policy

Health Union: Is it needed?

The legislative package to create a European Health Union was the EU's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Health Union Communication stated more broadly that "a strong European Health Union will protect our way of life, our economy, and our society." This raises the question of whether the Health Union should be limited to crisis prevention and management or have a broader public health approach, writes Anne Bucher from the think-tank Bruegel.

By Redaktion Table

EU Health Data Space: consortium tinkering with test version

The EU Commission's draft regulation for the European Health Data Space (EHDS) is eagerly awaited. It will be the first of its kind within the framework of the European data strategy. A consortium is to start work on a kind of beta version of the EHDS this year.

By Eugenie Ankowitsch

The medical device regulatory framework must be further developed

The EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) has been in force since May 2021. The aim of the MDR is to harmonize the requirements for medical devices throughout Europe and to increase safety. The MedTech industry fully shares this goal, says Marc Pierre Möll from the German Medical Technology Association (BVMed). However, the system is not yet practical.

By Redaktion Table

EU Parliament votes on own-initiative report on cancer prevention

By Eugenie Ankowitsch

HERA: €1.3 billion for crisis response in 2022

By Redaktion Table

EMA center for real data evaluation launches

By Redaktion Table

Health data: ethics before profit

By Eugenie Ankowitsch

Health data: ethics framework initiative launched

By Eugenie Ankowitsch

Health data: Finland as a blueprint?

By 2025, the European Health Data Space (EHDS) is to promote new digital health services and enable GDPR-compliant access to health data. The EU Commission intends to present a regulation proposal in April. Given the very different starting points and degrees of digitization among individual member states, the magnitude of the task quickly becomes clear.

By Eugenie Ankowitsch

COVID: Most EU countries back partial vaccine mandate

Austria was the first EU country to adopt a general COVID-19 vaccination requirement. In other countries, however, a partial vaccine mandate for certain occupational and/or age groups is much more likely. In Germany, the discussion about a general vaccine requirement recently picked up steam again. However, the outcome is uncertain.

By Eugenie Ankowitsch