The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios
The COVID-19 pandemic brought visibility and intensified the discussions on the European Union’s (EU) health mandate. The proposals of the European Commission (EC) to move towards a European Health Union (EHU) can be seen as a starting point towards more integration in health. However, the definitio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/12/1741 |
| _version_ | 1797504162968109056 |
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| author | Marie Nabbe Helmut Brand |
| author_facet | Marie Nabbe Helmut Brand |
| author_sort | Marie Nabbe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic brought visibility and intensified the discussions on the European Union’s (EU) health mandate. The proposals of the European Commission (EC) to move towards a European Health Union (EHU) can be seen as a starting point towards more integration in health. However, the definition of what the EHU will look like is not clear. This paper searches to find a common definition, and/or features for this EHU through a systematic literature review performed in May 2021. “European Union’s concern about health for all” is suggested as a definition. The main drivers identified to develop an EHU are: surveillance and monitoring, crisis preparedness, funding, political will, vision of public health expenditures, population’s awareness and interest, and global health. Based on these findings, five scenarios were developed: making a full move towards supranational action; improving efficiency in the actual framework; more coordination but no real change; in a full intergovernmentalism direction; and fragmentation of the EU. The scenarios show that the development of a EHU is possible inside the current legal framework. However, it will rely on increased coordination and has a focus on cross-border health threats. Any development will be strongly linked to political choices from Member States. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:00:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b667af8cb16f4d9a93fca6bbbc6d2be5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:00:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-b667af8cb16f4d9a93fca6bbbc6d2be52023-11-23T08:34:57ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322021-12-01912174110.3390/healthcare9121741The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and ScenariosMarie Nabbe0Helmut Brand1European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE), Avenue Marnix 30, 1000 Brussels, BelgiumDepartment of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6229 ER Maastricht, The NetherlandsThe COVID-19 pandemic brought visibility and intensified the discussions on the European Union’s (EU) health mandate. The proposals of the European Commission (EC) to move towards a European Health Union (EHU) can be seen as a starting point towards more integration in health. However, the definition of what the EHU will look like is not clear. This paper searches to find a common definition, and/or features for this EHU through a systematic literature review performed in May 2021. “European Union’s concern about health for all” is suggested as a definition. The main drivers identified to develop an EHU are: surveillance and monitoring, crisis preparedness, funding, political will, vision of public health expenditures, population’s awareness and interest, and global health. Based on these findings, five scenarios were developed: making a full move towards supranational action; improving efficiency in the actual framework; more coordination but no real change; in a full intergovernmentalism direction; and fragmentation of the EU. The scenarios show that the development of a EHU is possible inside the current legal framework. However, it will rely on increased coordination and has a focus on cross-border health threats. Any development will be strongly linked to political choices from Member States.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/12/1741European Unionpublic healthhealth mandateEuropean Health Unionscenario planning |
| spellingShingle | Marie Nabbe Helmut Brand The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios Healthcare European Union public health health mandate European Health Union scenario planning |
| title | The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios |
| title_full | The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios |
| title_fullStr | The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios |
| title_full_unstemmed | The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios |
| title_short | The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios |
| title_sort | european health union european union s concern about health for all concepts definition and scenarios |
| topic | European Union public health health mandate European Health Union scenario planning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/12/1741 |
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