The informal meeting of health ministers under the Bulgarian Presidency took place on 22-23 April in Sofia, where Ms Márta Ladányi deputy secretary of state headed the Hungarian delegation.
At the morning debate delegations agreed that multi sectoral and multi stakeholder approach is necessary to ensure that the population and especially children have access to healthier nutrition.
In the view of the Hungarian delegation the supply of healthy, safe and high-quality foods need to be supported in all possible ways and their production should be promoted on a higher scale. It is of utmost importance to maintain and strengthen the subsidy scheme for sustainable agricultural policies, especially those promoting ecological farming. Moreover, food marketing to children is a global phenomenon with many challenges, like the association of food with gifts, that need to be addressed at EU level taking into account the latest merchandising tools. Further research is also necessary to better understand consumers’ drivers for a healthier lifestyle.
Ministers also discussed the current challenges related to the efficiency, affordability and availability of medicinal products. One might ask why to discuss pharma-related matters in the Council every year. Hungary is convinced that we can never speak too much about medicines as long as the challenges we are facing are relevant. And they are relevant, because with a limited healthcare budget governments have to meet the needs of all patients and at the same time grant access to new and usually highly expensive technologies.
In such an environment Member States have to cooperate closely to better evaluate the added value of new therapies. Horizon scanning, early dialogues with developers and health technology assessment are evident fields of cooperation. This process however should always be Member State-driven and NOT industry-driven. It is also important that the exchange on sustainable models for financing is continued. We recognize the ongoing reflections at EU level, on the other hand the greatest added value can be reached by regional cooperation where countries in similar economic situation can work together. Hungary is already involved in such a cooperation together with Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Latvia.
