Minister of Health presented the priorities of the Slovak Presidency in Luxembourg

The Minister of Health Tomáš Drucker attended the meeting of the EU Council for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) in Luxembourg on 16 and 17 June 2016, together with the Secretary of State of the Slovak Republic Stanislav Španiek.
During the Presidency, Slovakia will continue with the priorities set under the Tria Presidency on the lack of medicines. Their inaccessibility or lack becomes a hot topic in Europe, said Health Minister Tomáš Drucker at the EU Health Ministers Council. The aim of the Slovak Presidency will be a joint reflection on solutions to this problem in the High Level Group on Public Health, which will prepare the basis for the discussion of the informal Council of Health Ministers on 3 and 4 October 2016 in Bratislava.
Another hot topic is often vitreous antimicrobial resistance. Minister for Health Thomas Drucker stressed that Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to global, regional and national health security and European regions have the highest rates of new and previously treated cases with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis strains. The Slovak Presidency will continue the discussion on cooperation in the fight against tuberculosis.
Vaccination is an extremely effective tool to combat excessive consumption of antibiotics and increasing resistance to these medicines. –We decided to open this topic to the informal Health Council in Octoberi"Minister Tomáš Drucker explained the ambitions of the Slovak Presidency.
Given that healthy eating is a priority for EU Member States, food reformation is the most effective way to reduce risk factors such as saturated fats, sugars and salt in food. The Slovak Presidency will focus on the exchange of good practices in the Member States in the field of food improvement", stressed the minister.
The Slovak Presidency will also organise several important conferences on preventing non-communicable diseases and healthy lifestyles and Alzheimer's. The aim is to form a group of experts from different fields to analyse the scientific, health and social aspects of the disease.

During his visit to Luxembourg, the Minister of Health also attended several important bilateral meetings, discussed with the Dutch Minister of Health Edit Schippers and confirmed the interest of the Slovak Presidency in continuing the topic of the Dutch Presidency regarding the availability of innovative, quality, safe and affordable medicines. The Minister also attended a bilateral meeting with Commissioner for Health Vytenis Andriukaitis and the theme was the Commission's proposals on setting up cooperation during the Slovak Presidency. Informally he also met a French candidate for the post of Director General of the World Health Organization Philip Douste-Blazy.
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