Aiming for a #HealthyEU. Countdown to European elections – 9 weeks to go
21.03.14
Following the launch of its digital media campaign calling for an integrated life sciences strategy in the EU, EFPIA expands on the topic of health and growth for Europe in a dedicated blog series. This week, EFPIA Director General Richard Bergstrom writes on the need to reduce healthcare inequalities.
Healthcare inequalities in Europe need to be eliminated. I don’t think anyone would argue when I say each EU citizen deserves the same level of access to good-quality healthcare – and that good medicines are an integral part of any successful healthcare system. What makes Europe great, beyond the internal market, free movement and all that, is our commitment to a universal health care system with principles of equity, equality and solidarity. These are values that make me proud to be European. But we need to nurse these principles, and deliver, so that they do not become empty slogans.
Advances in science and technology have allowed for great strides in medicines research and development, benefitting patients not only in Europe but also around the world. With progress come new hurdles, however. At this moment, one of those hurdles is to ensure that all patients are receiving access to these advances in medicine. This is an issue we need to address now, or we risk backtracking on the progress we’ve made in healthcare over the past decades.
In the run-up to the European Elections, I think it’s a good time for all European citizens – not just policy-makers – to consider their priorities for Europe and voice their opinions. For my industry, one big ask is greater collaboration as we work to address the current inequalities we are seeing in EU healthcare. These inequalities persist, both between and within countries. Life expectancy in Romania, for instance, is nine years less than in Spain – largely as a result of vast differences in access to healthcare and medicines.[1] Meanwhile, in the UK, each London Underground station travelling east from Westminster represents nearly one year of life expectancy lost.[2]
Eliminating such inequalities is a challenge that goes beyond medicines development, and beyond the scope of what the pharmaceutical industry can deliver. Some of the best innovations recently, or coming soon, address serious public health issues like Hepatitis C, multi-drug resistant TB or HIV. And the tragedy is that many of these patients are outside the health system: Roma population, migrant immigrants, drug addicts etc. How do we make sure these people have access? It will require a collaborative effort among policy-makers, payers, and industry, among others. Now is the time take action – and the first step in taking action requires us to get the conversation going. So I invite you to share your thoughts in the comments section below – and join me in the discussion on how we can work towards a better #HealthyEU.
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[1] The World Bank: Database on life expectancy
[2] London Health Observatory (2010) Analysis of ONS and GLA data for 2004-08
