Press Releases

Health First Europe launches paper on women’s health at a lunch in the European Parliament

27 June 2006

On 27 June, Health First Europe launched a paper on women’s health at a lunch in the European Parliament attended by MEPs, Commission officials and officials from the Permanent Representations. The lunch was hosted by MEP and HFE supporter Karin Jöns (Germany, PES) who emphasised the role of the European Parliament on this topic. Speeches were delivered by Judy Birch, HFE member and patient from the UK on endometriosis, Dr. Meyer on Chlamydia, and Prof. Dr. Fried on obesity.

MEP Karin Jöns emphasised the role of the European Parliament with regard to women’s health issues. In fact, the Parliament has drawn attention to certain diseases that exclusively affect women or have different symptoms for women than for men. Thanks to the Austrian Presidency, during which women’s health issues were prioritised, Council conclusions on women’s health were adopted on 30 May 2006. The Parliament will now analyse these conclusions. Ms. Jöns believes however, that non-binding guidelines on best practice alone will not be able to deal with the current problems and the different standards in the EU Member States. Furthermore, she called upon stakeholders and national governments to co-operate more closely in order to develop new strategies to tackle these issues.

Judy Birch, HFE member and patient, spoke on endometriosis, and outlined how the disease has impacted upon her daily life. Ms. Birch stated that an inter-disciplinary approach, i.e. by radiologists, neurologists, physiologists, and psychologists, is needed in order to treat the disease effectively. In addition, specific instruments are needed in order to improve prevention. She called for: EU-wide education, classification of the disease at EU level, and a requirement to publish research.

Dr. Meyer, Head of the Department for Infectious Diseases at Laboratory Prof. Arndt & Partner in Hamburg, outlined the latest data on chlamydia. The WHO reported in 2001 that approximately 90 million women were newly affected by chlamydia. In Germany alone, 1.1 million are affected, representing 1% of the whole population. It is however, difficult to estimate the exact number of affected people as the disease is asymptomatic. The consequences of a chlamydia infection are serious and can lead to infertility. In Germany alone, 100,000 women are infertile as a`result of chlamydia infection. Screening reduces the incidents of the disease and the number of complications. Screening programmes are offered in some countries such as in Germany where screening during a woman’s pregnancy is obligatory. A study on chlamydia, undertaken in Germany, found out that 10% of seventeen year old schoolgirls in Berlin are affected by chlamydia. This statistic shows that it is crucial to improve education of young people with respect to this sexually transmitted bacterial disease. Additionally, there is a great need to establish effective screening programmes.

Prof. Dr. Fried, Consultant Surgeon at Charles Hospital University Teaching Hospital Prague, stated that it is estimated that in the EU there are 60 million people obese, and well over 50% of them are women. These figures are especially worrying as obesity has serious psychological effects on individuals, as well as societal, and economic consequences. For example, obese people are more likely to be unemployed. Statistically they are more likely to die twelve years earlier than non-obese people. This is especially true for young people affected by obesity where there is a 9% higher possibility to die younger. In addition, obese people are two-three times more likely to get breast cancer, five times more likely to be affected by cardiovascular diseases, and eight times more likely to get diabetes-type-II.

It is essential to differentiate between overweight and obese people in order to adopt the most effective treatment. Overweight for example is effectively treated by applying a special diet and physical regime. Obesity instead requires an integrated care path including treatment by physicians, nutritionists, cardiologists as well as surgeons. In addition, more research must be carried out in order to find out the reasons why some people are more likely to become obese (a genetic inclination is not the only reason). Finally, Prof. Dr. Fried stated that awareness on the issue must be raised as its impacts not only on the individual, but also on society are underestimated.

Debate
Two representatives from the European Commission gave their views on the issues highlighted by the speakers. Timothy Hall, DG Research, Head of Unit, Health Research: Strategy and Policy Aspects, stated that the Commission has a great interest in women’s health issues. The 7th Research Framework programme puts special emphasis on public health, and the analysis of environmental influences on health. Indeed, when allocating money to different projects the Commission takes into account whether gender-specific approach is followed.
Anna Xavier, DG Employment, of the Social Protection and Social Services unit, and dealing with healthcare systems, said that EU Member States are obliged to report to the European Commission on their healthcare strategies on 15 September 2006. The Commission will then analyse the Member States approaches, and on the basis of these will put together a report.
Ms. Xavier encouraged Health First Europe and its members to send their comments on the Commission’s report when it is published. Stakeholders are also welcome to advise the Commission on how to improve co-operation between EU Member States on health issues. A number of MEPs participated including, Christa Prets (Austria, PES), Karin Scheele (Austria, PES), and Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (Greece, EPP-ED). Many gave their views, including Ms. Irena Belohorska (Slovakia, Non-attached) on the need for better prevention and screening, and Ms. Kathy Sinnott (Ireland, IND/DEM) on the need for a behavioural change with respect to sexually transmitted diseases.

Final comments by all speakers
Prof. Dr. Fried criticised that resources to present for gender-specific research have not been efficiently allocated. Dr. Meyer stated that a behavioural change among young people is not realistic, but more emphasis must be put on education with regard to risks of sexually transmitted diseases. Judy Birch mentioned the success of communal programmes in tackling obesity in the UK. Karin Jöns stated that education is one possible approach to deal with women’s health issues effectively, however, when necessary and reasonable, it must be complimented with a regulatory approach. As such, she welcomed the Commission’s Green Paper on obesity, and called for more research on the underlying socio-economic