The second meeting of the Steering Group on Prevention and Promotion takes place in Brussels today. The Steering Group, composed of representatives from all EU and EEA countries and several Commission services, will agree on criteria for selecting best practices in health promotion and disease prevention. Participants will discuss priorities of the expert groups on public health for the period 2017-2018 to identify synergies and joint areas of work. The Commission will also present its new Communication on Occupational Safety and Health – impacts on chronic diseases. A flash report will be available here in the coming days.

Background

The Steering Group on Promotion and Prevention was set up by the Commission to support Member States in meeting the WHO/UN 2025 global voluntary targets on non-communicable diseases[1] and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Steering Group, which meets twice per year, has three main areas of work:

1. Supporting the Commission in identifying and implementing best practices for increased EU added value in tackling chronic diseases, particularly in EU policy priorities.
2. Coordinating expert groups on public health in specific sectors such as cancer, mental health, rare diseases and nutrition.
3. Improving collaboration with non-health sectors (e.g. transport, agriculture, research, etc.) which nevertheless have a link or impact on non-communicable disease policies.

The first meeting of the Steering Group took place on 29 November 2016. Report available here.

More information on EU chronic diseases policy:

• Europa - Public Health website
• Chrodis website

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[1] The World Health Organization's 9 voluntary global targets on non-communicable diseases