1. Health Information and Knowledge EU Public Health Portal E Health conference 24 May 2005 Trömso John F. Ryan Head of Unit Unit C2 – Health Information Luxembourg, 16.5.2005

2. EU Public Health Activities EU Treaties call for a high level of health protection in all EU policies. Community action, which shall complement national policies, is directed towards improving public health, preventing human illness, through health information and education, for example

3. How the Community acts The main arm of Community action is through the EU Public Health Programme 2003-2008, annual budget of +/- 60M€ Three main strands- Health information Health threats including bioterrorism Health determinants

4. Health Information Sources Many EU projects developed health monitoring, especially in the former health monitoring programme, but also in the cancer, rare diseases, pollution related diseases and injury prevention programmes Eurostat works on mortality and morbidity statistics. WHO, OECD and agencies such as Lisbon (drugs) or Copenhagen (environment) also have monitoring activities, as will the Stockholm centre (communicable diseases). The challenge is to bring these elements together to facilitate access to reliable, up-to-date and comparable information.

5. Main information Outputs of the Programme Information Strand Health indicators and reports: THE SHORT LIST OF COMMUNITY HEALTH INDICATORS THE ‘HEALTHY LIFE YEARS’ INDICATOR HEALTH REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS CONFERENCES AND EVENTS Multinational projects and networks

6. Which is the audience Mostly professionals, academics, NGO’s, industry and government Some public information campaigns Tobacco fund multimedia campaigns Cancer, nutrition, drugs and AIDS campaigns Rare diseases, mental health and CVD information activities, for example

7. Health in other policies Internal market (Tobacco labelling/tax) Product authorisation (medicines) Services (regulated professions) Agriculture (food policy, quality) Development (health-aid, investment) Research (health research) Employment (health and safety at work, disability)

8. Diffusion The Internet is the main diffusion method The Commission EUROPA server contains information on public health but also on other policies with a health impact

9. Public health website As an example, the public health website alone has over 500000 hits per month Contains project reports, news on events, proposals for legislation Generally an administrative site

10. The concept of a Health portal Linking the broad spread of information sources with health interest at EU level Reverse the current lack of focus on presenting material in a way attractive/accessible to citizens A Portal can provide an attractive single entry-point and improve synergies with Member States, regional levels and civil society giving a better overview

11. Implementation plan Editorial board representatives from Member States and different Commission directorate generals and civil society Brainstorming on regrouping health topics under a small number of themes Building visual concept

12. Content Under a small number of themes: A short introduction Links to EU policy areas concerned Links to Member State websites Links to Regional authority websites Links to Non-governmental organisations websites Links to other web resources

13. Budget Development funded by Interchange of Data Between Administrations Programme Long term maintenance to be funded by EU Public health programme

14. Timelines Development work begun in 2004 Final test version available mid 2005 Roll out end 2005

15. Theme structure

16. Screen design: Green version

18. Pre-test - Results Main findings Both design approaches basically meet the taste of the test groups Avoid overload of information Avoid provocative but take “healthy” pictures Clear structure is demanded News section is appreciated (green version) Search tool is appreciated Different opinions depending on country Group discussion: Green version was appreciated as a fresh young and promotional approach Group discussion: Blue version was appreciated because of the structure and subdivision

19. EUROPA ADDRESS http://europa.eu.int/comm/health /ph_information/information_en.htm