Why the Health Care Summit, and why now?

There has never been a stronger mandate for health within European institutions.

From ensuring access to medicines and reducing vaccine skepticism to advancing e-health, the new Health Commission’s priorities are far-ranging and complex. They are also urgent to tackle as European leaders face the global coronavirus pandemic consequences. At stake are the European health systems and the fundamental cohesion of the European project, which risks being pulled apart at the seams. Most immediately it has put the health of citizens as the number one priority of policymakers worldwide.

The picture has considerably changed compared to a year ago, when most health policy experts worried about a dilution of health topics into different European portfolios and departments. In May 2019 citizens sent representatives to the European Parliament pledging to tackle issues such as cancer, climate, and digitalization – all of which relate to health policy. European Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen – herself a medical doctor – then selected Stella Kyriakides, European commissioner for health and food safety with a very strong health background.

Is this the make or break mandate for health at the EU level?

A year into the new Commission’s mandate, this 5^th edition of POLITICO’s Health Care Summit will convene news-makers and global thought leaders virtually to discuss the challenges that this new legislature is planning to or forced by events to undertake, obstacles that stand in their way as well as the potential ways to tackle them.

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