"The Importance of eHealth in Europe": Speech by Erkki Liikanen European Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society
Date: 11-12-2003 - Geneva
World Health Organisation Launch on a Health Academy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Firstly, I would like to say how extremely pleased I am to be here.
Health is something of common concern for everyone. The delivery of high quality and affordable access is at the top of the political agenda in every part of the world.
Today we are very conscious of the mounting challenges for healthcare and for healthcare systems. These challenges come from a variety of directions:
- Tackling infectious diseases such as HIV/Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
- An ageing population which creates demands for long-term care, and Rising expectations from patients. Not least because the Internet is allowing them to be better informed about health issues.
- Pressure on national healthcare budgets due to these demands.
eHealth offers solutions to these challenges.
It means getting the most out of technologies and new services. It allows us to improve the quality of treatment and broaden access to medical care. It can help to reduce pressures on public healthcare budgets in both the industrialised and developing world.
This is why the European Commission has placed e-Health activities at the centre of the Information Society and its e-Europe Action Plan. We believe that attention must focus on three areas:
First, we must have the right regulatory framework and the right standards to support e-Health.
Second, we must support research and development in the area of e-Health.
Over the last fifteen years, we have funded more than 500 million euros of research and development in the e-Health area.
Third, we also recognise the need to spread e-Health best practice and awareness.
We are looking forward next year to a major e-Health conference involving Health Ministers from more than 30 countries under the Irish Presidency of the European Union to build awareness and secure a commitment to progress on e-Health issues.
In moving forward, we recognise the need for global and regional partnerships. Let me give two examples:
We have supported the "Health on the Net" Foundation. It is helping to implement quality criteria for health related web sites. These have now been approved by the United Nations.
In the area of telemedicine we are working with groups such as the TM (Tele-medicine) Alliance that mobilize the expertise of international organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the International Telecommunication Union and the European Space Agency.
Finally, our activities such as must capitalise on the potential of the e-Health sector:
e-Health is now the third "industrial" pillar for health alongside the pharmaceutical and radiological industries. It has tremendous potential to improve the effectiveness and productivity of health care delivery systems.
e-Health will be the backbone for development and in some cases - re-engineering healthcare systems for the 21st century. It will allow health care professionals to place patients rather than budgets at the centre of their systems. In my opinion, the Health Academy is exactly in line with this concept.
It provides us with:
- a world-wide vision of common challenges based on an effective public-private partnership
- the expertise and strong support of World Health Organisation
- a framework in which to respect of different cultural approaches and the multi-lingual character of health care delivery.
The Health Academy is a model of a new method of working in the Information Society. It is in line with the action plan approved at the World Summit of Information Society.
I therefore strongly support this initiative. I believe it provides a model for others to follow and will help us in ensuring we meet a new challenge: a challenge of e-Health for all.
Source: Commission Press Room
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