Meeting of EU health ministers dominated by talks on increasing availability of medicines, vaccination, tuberculosis and food reformulation

On 3 and 4 October 2016, Bratislava hosted an informal meeting of the ministers of health of the 28 EU Member States, chaired by the Slovak Health Minister, Tomáš Drucker. The meeting was also attended by the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis i, and WHO i Regional Director for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab.

Ministers of health discussed the issue of shortages of medicines for human use, which is at the top of the political agenda in many European countries. Low prices of medicines leading to parallel exports, disruption in production and shortages of active substance are among the reasons for the problem. Ministers agreed that Member States can succeed in solving this issue through early and operational exchanges of information and regular mapping of the situation. Cooperation between Member States in this area is of high priority. 'At the forum, we focused particularly on identifying the main reasons for shortages of medicines and on seeking possible solutions to this issue. Our goal is to secure quality, safe and accessible treatment for all our patients,' said the Slovak Minister of Health, Tomáš Drucker.

Another topic highlighted at the meeting was food reformulation, with a focus on acquiring and evaluating Member States' good practices regarding the topic. In response to ever-increasing rates of overweight and obesity, which are reaching epidemic levels in Europe, it is necessary to promote decreasing the excessive intake of calories, saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, sugar and salts in food.

Participants in the informal meeting also discussed the issue of tuberculosis in Europe from the perspective of treatment, multidrug-resistance and vaccination. The disease is not only a public-health problem; from the global point of view, it is also a social, economic and security threat. 'Slovakia is a central European country with a well-established system of monitoring and treatment of TB patients,' added Health Minister Drucker.

Vaccination was also a topic of discussion as it is closely related to the consumption of antibiotics: decreases in vaccination result in an increase in the use of antibiotics. 'The Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance should be a health-policy priority for every country,' stated the Slovak health minister.