Priorities
In the area Health The Slovak Presidency will continue discussions at the Council on the revision of the current regulatory framework for medical devices and continue discussions on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation 726/2004 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Medicines Agency. Our ambition will be to continue the Dutch Presidency's discussion on the availability of medicines in the context of high prices for innovative medicines, drug shortages in manufacturing and parallel exports.
The aim of the Slovak Presidency is to prepare a single EU position on the topics discussed by the 7th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which will take place in India in November 2016. At EU level, the SK PRES will prepare a single EU position on the topics discussed on the CoP7 during the meetings of the Council Working Party on Public Health. Subsequently, at international level, during the CoP7 itself in India, SK PRES will align the positions of MS in the EU's daily coordination meetings. The preparation of the CoP 7 will be dedicated to the 3-4 meetings of the Public Health Working Group. SK PRES will aim to achieve a single Council position on the topics discussed on the CoP7.
In the context of increased migration, Slovakia wishes to draw attention to the importance of vaccination in individual Member States as the most effective means to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Following the priority of the Dutch Presidency, Slovakia's ambition is to continue the issue of antibacterial resistance, which is linked to the high consumption of antibiotics in human medicine as well as in animal production. In this context, it is important to point out that the reduction of booster vaccination may also lead to increased consumption of ATB and thus resistance. While antibiotics mainly act on bacteria, vaccines are also directed against viral diseases for which there is only limited treatment. The effectiveness of antibiotic therapy decreases with increasing resistance of micro-organisms to antibiotics. The development of new antibiotics has some limitations, while vaccinology records progress in the innovation of vaccines, the spread of vaccinations against selected cancers, and the safety of vaccines is significantly enhanced.
In the context of the migration crisis, we also want to raise the issue of tuberculosis in Europe in terms of treatment, multiresistance and vaccination. At the 65th session The WHO Regional Committee of the European Region found that tuberculosis is not only a public health problem but also a far-reaching social, economic, political and security threat. The European region represents almost a quarter of the global problem of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis - it is alarming in many countries in the European region. Within the Slovak Presidency of the Slovak Republic, he wants to point to our strengths and work with risk groups. It is necessary to maintain the TB control and treatment system for Slovakia as we serve ECDC and WHO as a model country in Central Europe, which has a suitable monitoring and dispensation system. The Slovak Republic plans to work together to stop TB as a public health problem by 2025 - by strengthening and strengthening work with vulnerable groups of the population by ensuring multi-sectoral cooperation, including NGOs as well as by providing services to the affected population in the design, implementation and monitoring of national TB responses. It also wants to work together to identify the risk assessment system for cross-border measures concerning the spread of tuberculosis in the region.
In the field of chronic non-communicable diseases, the aim of the Slovak Presidency is to increase importance prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases focusing on a healthy lifestyle and building on EU action in the field of food quality with the ambition to obtain and evaluate the best experience of Member States in this area. In non-communicable chronic diseases they represent a significant burden in Europe and are responsible for 86% of all deaths. They affect more than 80% of people over 65 and represent a major challenge for health and social systems. Chronic diseases - especially cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes - are the most common cause of death worldwide. More than 36 million per year die from chronic diseases, including 14 million people who die before the age of 70.
The Presidency will seek to promote prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of dementia - in particular Alzheimer' s disease, and transfer research results to medical and social practice.