With almost half of Europeans lacking digital skills, there is an urgent need to boost digital literacy if the European Health Data Space (EHDS), set to be launched in 2025, is to be a success.
Digital education, encouraging collaboration and financial support to connect rural areas are among the actions still needed for rural areas to benefit from digital health opportunities.
The COVID pandemic may have far-reaching consequences on bone health, due to a combination of lack of physical activity and late diagnosis, according to Jane Barratt, secretary general of the international federation of ageing.
Medical curriculums should be reformed if we want to eliminate systemic racial bias, according to students and teachers at the University of Bristol, who stressed that medical education should explore and reflect upon unconscious biases and how these may impact clinical judgement.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded Europe that its piecemeal approach to investing in the digitisation of health systems comes at a cost, but not all countries and policymakers have yet learned the lesson, the chairman of the European Connected Health Alliance told EURACTIV.
Belgium’s Poison Control Centre has recorded an increase of 15% in the number of calls it receives since the COVID-19 outbreak in mid-March, as people have increasingly started experimenting with hazardous substances. “The consequences of the coronavirus crisis are making themselves …
Increasing the daily intake of whole grains to 30-40g reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by up to 20%, EURACTIV.com heard at a recent event to mark the first International Whole Grain Day.
The EU health sector is in the middle of a defining moment but the sector is “up to a decade” behind other sectors in terms of digitalisation, Deputy Director-General for Health and Food Safety Martin Seychell told EURACTIV.com.
The new European Commission should tackle "head-on" rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, the president of the European League Against Rheumatism (Eular) told EURACTIV in an interview, referring to chronic diseases that affect one-quarter of all Europeans, creating healthcare and social security costs.
The European People’s Party (EPP), the biggest political group in the EU assembly, will ask for the creation of a special parliamentary committee to help formulate a new EU-wide plan to combat cancer. EURACTIV.com and EURACTIV.cz report from Strasbourg.
A number of pharma stakeholders announced on 9 February the official launch of the European Medicines Verification System (EMVS), which will make use of new technologies to improve safety in the medicines’ supply chain against fake products.
Enhanced prevention measures, especially against tobacco and electronic cigarettes, combined with access to innovative treatments can help tackle rising lung cancer cases in Europe, a new study funded by the industry has found.
In order to face the rising cancer incidence across Europe, governments should prioritise prevention policies, as well as access to innovative medicines under an EU-wide plan, Romanian Health Minister Sorina Pintea told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
Estonia and Finland will start exchanging digital prescriptions at the end of the year, in a groundbreaking move that Estonian Health Minister Riina Sikkut said she hoped other EU countries will follow.
The European Commission launched the Tartu Call for a Healthy Lifestyle a year ago, mostly to address rising obesity in the EU and promote physical activity, and it has already produced “concrete results”, Tibor Navracsics, the commissioner for education, culture, youth and sport, told EURACTIV.com.
With the European Commission’s new vaccination proposals, scientists have a good opportunity to join forces and use IT tools to explain their scientific opinions to people, EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
Patient groups play a crucial role in providing the right information and thus tackling fake news on vaccination, according to experts, who say this is increasingly necessary to restore confidence in this field.
The removal of brands from packaging is a "gross violation" of intellectual property rights and has failed to achieve its intended goals, the Property Rights Alliance argues in a letter to the World Health Organisation.
It takes willingness from all sides in order to make the EU's Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF) effective, a European Commission official has said, urging businesses and health NGOs to return to the discussion table.
The Commission’s upcoming proposal on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) will focus on clinical aspects and leave member states to decide on economic or ethical parts, a European Commission spokesperson told EURACTIV.com.
Diagnosis tools like spirometry should be promoted in order to monitor lung systems and prevent the spreading of illness like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the second cause of death worldwide, the EU's Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis told EURACTIV.com.
The idea of a cough being fatal brings up images of coal mining, hollow-cheeked children and Charles Dickens novels. But are we really past the time when a simple cough could kill you?
Organisations of patients with rare diseases have warned EU policymakers to “think carefully” before reviewing the incentives in the orphan drugs regulation, claiming that the pharma industry should not be discouraged from investing in new therapies.
As long as the political will exists, a coalition of EU member states can speed up the healthcare data mobility in Europe and start showing results in a cross-border manner in order for others to join, an Estonian government official told EURACTIV.
