Council resolution of 29 June 2000 on action on health determinants
Date: 2000-06-29
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU programme, health policy

C 218/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

31.7.2000

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 29 June 2000

on action on health determinants

(2000/C 218/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Whereas:

(7) UNDERLINES the need for the Community to direct its
action towards preventing disease and promoting health,
in order to reduce premature deaths from preventable
diseases and to maximise disability-free life expectancy
among the EU population.

(1) The European Community must make a contribution

towards ensuring a high-level of health protection.

(2) Key challenges in this context include genetic, biological,
lifestyle and behavioural, environmental, social, economic
factors which can have a significant
and political
influence on people’s health.

(3) The Community should always be equipped to meet
these challenges both in terms of policy and measures
and in terms of appropriate political and administrative
structures, particularly bearing in mind the
future
enlargement of the Community.

(4) Some of the abovementioned factors can be influenced
by action by the individual and some by the organised
efforts of society,
including institutions at national and
European level, either directly or indirectly.

(5) The future health strategy of the European Community
should aim at addressing, within the powers provided for
by the Treaty, factors that act as health determinants,
through prevention and health promotion measures and
the development of healthy policies in all other areas of
Community activity,

(6) TAKES NOTE of the results of the debates held at the
in the
European Conference on health determinants
European Union held at Evora on 15 and 16 March
2000, which placed particular emphasis on mental health
and the health of young people, and on tobacco, alcohol
and nutrition, and recommended a series of practical and
targeted steps to address the challenges in these areas.

(8) STRESSES that the Community should consider in which
areas it can take action most effectively, then design and
implement appropriate strategies,
in close cooperation
with the Member States, bearing in mind the need to take
account of the important cultural and socio-economic
differences between Member States.

(9) CONSIDERS that the increasing differences in health status
and health outcomes between and within Member States
call for renewed and coordinated efforts at the national
and Community level and require that a main focus of
the Community health strategy must be on tackling
health inequalities.

taken

(10) STRESSES the importance of the new Community public
health strategy building upon the activities on specific
programmes,
the
determinants
especially with respect to tobacco, nutrition and alcohol;
underlines its view that it is important not only to ensure
continuity with existing actions, but
to take forward
work on these issues in a fully coherent and systematic
way.

existing

in

(11) POINTS OUT that the Community possesses a large array
of policies and means by which to bring about a
significant and beneficial shift in the way some of the
key health determinants come to influence people’s
health and it would be, therefore, necessary to marshal
energies and resources to achieve in each relevant sector
tangible progress towards ensuring such shift.

(12)

INSISTS on the need to develop expertise in evaluating
the impact of
the other policies on health and its
determinants.

31.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 218/9

(13) STRESSES the fundamental

importance of sharing and

(16)

disseminating scientific knowledge.

(14) WELCOMES the Commission’s commitment to developing
a broad health strategy and the presentation of
its
for a new health programme, containing a
proposal
specific strand of action aimed at addressing health
determinants by means of health promotion and disease
prevention underpinned by inter-sectoral policy; concurs
with the Commission that there is a need to develop the
appropriate knowledge base for this and, therefore, an
efficacious health monitoring system must be established
for this purpose.

(17)

the evaluation of

INVITES the Commission to complete, with external
the existing programmes
evaluators,
foreseen in their decisions before the start of the new
action programme so that the evaluation results can be
used in the start-up of the new programme.

the

to exploit

in carrying forward its broad
INVITES the Commission,
health strategy,
for
Community action in relation to health determinants
using the full range of possibilities for action under the
Treaty so as fully to ensure a high level of health
protection in the definition and implementation of all
Community policies and activities.

full potential

(15)

INVITES the Commission to take account of
these
considerations as well as of the results of the mid-term
evaluations of existing programmes
in drawing up
detailed plans and implementation strategies for the new
programme on public health and in ensuring a smooth
transition from the existing action programmes.

(18) CALLS UPON the Member States to provide their full
their

facilitate
support
implementation at national and Community level.

policies

such

and

to