The EMHF has responded enthusiastically to the invitation by EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne to reflect on what the EU should do to help deliver good health for all.
'Our response advocates the need to mainstream gender equity in EU policy and presents a call for action in all EU policy areas having an impact either directly or indirectly on the health of EU citizens,' said EMHF director Erick Savoye.
The Forum has called for:
- Greater consideration to be given to gender and health in the agenda of EU institutions, and for health targets to be made more gender specific.
- Training on developing an understanding of the impact of sex and gender on health to be widely available across EU institutions and within Member States.
- Health care resources appropriate to the respective needs of both men and women to be earmarked to help prevent and diagnose health conditions earlier.
- The Commission to ensure that health concerns specific to men (notably prostate, erectile dysfunction and other sexual and reproductive health problems) are given the same priority as concerns that are of proportionate relevance to the whole of the population.
- An integrated approach to tackle a wider range of health determinants such as environment, education, working conditions, ethnicity and migration-related issues.
- The situation in Eastern Europe to be given special attention.
- Systems to be developed for monitoring gender differences in patterns of health and illness across the lifecycle. Gender must be made a key variable and sex routinely identified in sampling.
Download the full response here.
