1. Health & Consumer Protection Directorate General
EFTA participation in the Public Health Programme
and
the future Healt and Consumer Protection Programme
Guri Galtung Kjaeserud
Health Strategy Unit
23 September, Reykjavik
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me start by introducing myself I work in DG SANCO- Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection in the Health Strategy unit. Today I am going to talk about some more issues related to the Public Health Programme as a follow up to the presentation you have heard from our director Mr Sauer.

2. 1. Activities Legislation Policy actions Financial actions
Tobacco, blood, tissues and cells, International Health Regulation
Social, environment, internal market, law impacting on health
Policy actions
Initiatives on mental health, nutrition, alcohol
health systems co-operation, new strategy,
Health and the environment
As you may know DG SANCO work in three fields Public health, Food safety and Veterinary issues.
The work is based on article 152 in the current treaty. The article give an opportunity for kinds of actions.
As an example of legal actions there are directives on advertising of tobacco…
As an example of political action you have hears Mr Sauer mention the Help EU anti-smoking campaign HELP which was launched on in March this year. It through TV/CINEMA ads, roadshows, a web site it aims to help people to stop smoking.
It builds on the experiences form the ”Feel Free to say no” the previous campaign” by the commission ( )
The Public Health Programme, which I will talk about is an example of financial actions undertaken by DG SANCO
Financial actions
Public Health Programme, Research Framework programmes
Structural Funds,

3. 2. The Public Health Programme (2003-2008)
Executive
agency
Determinants
Threats
Information
Before telling you about the new joint Health and Consumer programme I will briefly explain how the current Public health programme works. This programme was introduced in 2003 and runs till the end of The total budget is about€ 354 million.
For 2005 the budget is € 61.5 million.
About 50 projects are funded each year. The projects can last up to three years .
The funded amounts dependings on the project’s size and scope.
The current programme has three strands :
First, the EU aims to build a knowledge base - we are setting up a health knowledge and information system to improve knowledge about people's health; about health interventions and policies; and about the functioning of health systems. At the same time, the EU aims to improve information to citizens. The health Portal is an example of action under this programme
Second, we are confronting the underlying causes of ill health including lifestyles and a range of social, economic and environmental factors. The health determinants.
Third, we survey and control health threats such as communicable diseases, natural threats and man-made threats (bioterrorism).
An Executive Agency is currently being set up. It is located in Luxembourg and which will focus on the following tasks: - Implementation of the public health programme:
- Preparation of the publication of calls for tenders and calls for proposals and evaluation of the bids and proposals received. 
- Execution of the budgets for all the operations necessary for the management of the public health programme. - Award contracts and grants. It will sign contracts and grant agreements. It will make the payments and recover any sums owed in relation to these contracts and grant agreements. 
- Logistical, scientific and technical support, helps to organise technical meetings of the expert working groups, seminars and conferences.

4. 2. The Public Health Programme (2003-2008)
Annual work programme
Call for proposals
Call for tenders
Call for expression of interest
The Programme Committee
The Information day
Each year a work programme is developed. It set out the priorities of the activities. Based on the Work programme the call for proposals, call for tenders and call for expression of interest are issued :
There is a Call for proposals for projects for which the programme will make a contribution to the cost.
In 2005 the call for proposal was published in January. The deadline was three months later. 242 proposals were received. When the projects are received they go through a process of internal and external evaluation. The Programme Committee then decides which projects to accept, reject and which to put on a reserve list. After the meeting of the Programme Committee contracts are signed, then funding is normally distributed by the end of the year, so by the end of 2005 projects can start. The projects are co-funded.
Based on the workplan it is also issued a Call for tenders – where 100% funding is provided - can be issued for more specific projects.
Calls for expression of interest, has since 15 December 2004 aimed at establishing a list of experts for evaluation activities in connection with the Public Health Programme. Related to evaluation of proposals, review of technical reports of finished or ongoing projects; and for monitoring of programme actions in the light of its objectives. Experts are invited to submit their candidature until: 15 September 2007.
For 2006, a first draft of the work plan has been prepared. It will be presented to the Programme Committee for opinion on 15 November It is expected to be finalised by December The 2006 call for proposals and the work plan will be published in January 2006 at the latest.
The indicative global amount for the 2006 call for proposals is € 43 million.
The Programme committee meets twice a year. It is composed of the Member states, Candidate countries and EEA/EFTA states. Mr Sauer is the Chair.
To present the programmes and objectives the Commission has organised an annual Information day. In 2005 this was arranged in Luxembourg on the 3 February. It gathered 300 participants including representatives form the EFTA-EEA countries. There were workshops on various aspects such as content of the programme, financial and administrative aspects, practical information. If you consider to apply it is worth attending this information day.

5. 2. The Public Health Programme (2003-2008)
Choice of proposals
Exclusion criteria
Selection criteria
Award criteria
Financing
Co- financing 60-80%
Eligible costs
I will not go into detail about the choice of proposals, you will find extensive information in the internet and I will provide you with the link at the end of the presentation. Here I will briefly mention some of the main criteria's:
• exclusion criteria, to assess the applicant’s eligibility, are projects received after the deadline, has the action started already…
• Projects that are not excluded due to formal criteria can be evaluated. The next step is then the selection criteria, to assess the applicant’s financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed project, the competence of the contractors is evaluated, annual activity reports must be submitted, CV of involved professional staff etc.
• For those projects that are selected the award criteria remains, This assess the quality of the project taking into account its cost.
It looks at the Technical content, methodology, Budgets etc.
Central elements in the Award criteria is that projects should have Community interest have a significant European added value.
This means that proposals should yield relevant economies of scale at European level, involve as many eligible countries as possible and are capable of being applied elsewhere. The proposals should offer something new in relation to the existing situation and are not of a recurrent nature; it should support policy developments at Community level in the field of public health and it should include adequate diffusion of results at European level.
FINANCING
Normally the partners should fund 40% of the costs of the project. It can be less than 40 % in exceptional cases. The PHP can grant up to 80% co-financing of 80 % of eligible costs if a project has a significant European added value and also involves the new Member States and Candidate Countries in a substantial manner. This applies for a limited number of projects.
For costs to be eligible costs they need to be identifiable and verifiable, Connected with the subject and Necessary for the performance of the action, they need to be generated during the duration of the project and they can be related to: Staff, Travel and subsistence allowances, Purchase cost of equipment, Consumables and supplies or Costs entailed by other contracts. The overhead costs can be max (max: 7%)
The grants should not produce profit for the beneficiary.

6. 2. The Public Health Programme (2003-2008)
Open for applications from
Member States
Candidate countries
EFTA-EEA countries
Different degrees of partnership
Main partner
Associated partners (max: 50)
Collaborating partners (max: 60)
Subcontractors
The public health programme is open to applications from Member States, Candidate countries and EFTA EEA countries.
There are different degrees of involvement.
There is ONE Main partner which is responsible for the management of the project. It is the contact point between the other partners and the European Commission. The main partner also need to contribute financially.
The Associated partners also contribute financially and are actively involved in the project buy data gathering and contributions to final report. As it is hard to administer projects with many associated partners this is limited to max: 50.
In addition it is possible to have Collaborating partners (max: 60) that provide scientific expertise. These do not have any contractual relationship with the Commission and they do not contribute financially.
In some cases it is more efficient to subcontract certain aspects of the work. The sub contractors provide services to a partner who fully fund the activity of the subcontractors. They have no rights or access to the results of the actions taken by the project.

7. 3. EFTA-EEA countries in the PHP
EFTA-EEA countries participate in the programme as EU Member States
EPINORTH
2th European public health conference in Oslo 7-9 October 2004 on Urbanisation and Health.
European e-Health consumer trends survey.
EFTA/EEA countries contribute to the PHP:
€ 1.1 million in 2003
€ 1.3 million in 2004
€ 1.1 million in 2005
As we have seen the degree of participation to the Public Health Programme differs.
The EFTA-EEA countries are involved at different levels different years. To mention some examples:
As an example in 2005, there are no proposals where the EFTA EEA countries are main partners.
However Norway is an associate partner in 13 accepted proposals, and in 8 proposals on the reserve list.
Iceland is an associated partner in 4 proposals that has been accepted, and in 2 on the reserve list.
But there are examples form previous years where EFTA EEA countries has been involved as main partners.
In 2003 – EPINORTH project that works with to improve communicable disease control in Northern Europe.
(Enhancing the capability of responding rapidly and in a co-ordinated fashion to health threats (EPINORTH))
In 2004 the 2th European public health conference in Oslo, was co-funded by the PHP.
(7-9 October 2004 on Urbanisation and Health. )
In 2004 the European e-Health consumer trends survey that monitor European health consumers use and attitudes towards information and communication technology for health purposes was funded under the PHP.
The EFTA-EEA countries also contribute to the PHP by an annual percentage of 2% of the PHP annual budget.
This is how the current programme works, but there will be some changes.

8. 4. Proposal for Joint Health and Consumer Programme
Reflection process
Enabling good health for all
“Healthier, Safer, more confident citizens: a health and consumer protection strategy”
Proposal for new programme ( )
Adopted by the Commission, 6 April 2005
To be adopted by Parliament and Council
As a basis for the new programme the previous Commissioner Byrne, issued a reflection paper last summer called – Enabling good health for all. He started a process in order to gather ideas on how to make progress towards solving some of the health challenges in Europe. It was a part of a broad reflection process, with website, consultation of all EU Health Ministers and main stakeholders.
Several contributions were received.
The contributions express the need to mainstream health into all policies and to have a consistent health policy
There were support for promoting health and preventing illness (Overwhelming support for the need to promote healthy life styles and prevent illness, focusing on the urgency of tackling in particular smoking and also alcohol, nutrition and exercise).
III. Respondents stressed the need for the EU to involve stakeholders more closely in policy-making, to match ambitions and resources and to provide authoritative health information
These contributions are still available on the internet. More importantly is that they are reflected in the Commission proposal for a new health and consumer Strategy: called "Healthier, Safer, more confident citizens: a health and consumer protection strategy" and Proposal for a Decision establishing a programme of Community action in the field of Health and Consumer Protection COM(2005) 115 final
The Communication that was adopted on the 6 April also include a proposal for a joint Health and Consumer programme. This will be adopted by the Parliament and the Council after the Community Financial Perspectives for had been adopted.

9. 4. Common health and consumer objectives
To protect citizens from risks and threats
To increase ability of citizens to exercise real choice
To mainstream health and consumer policies across EU policies
As the new programme is a joint programme it proposes to have three common health and consumer objectives:
To protect citizens from risks and threats that they are unable to manage alone and that cannot be effectively and completely tackled by individual Member States.
2. To increase the ability of citizens to take better decisions about their health and consumer interests. This means increasing the opportunities they have to exercise real choice and also equipping citizens with the knowledge they need.
3. To mainstream health and consumer policy objectives across all Community policies in order to put health and consumer issues at the centre of policy-making. The EU Treaty recognises this by requiring that all policies take health and consumer interests into account

10. 4. Common health and consumer actions
Improve communication with citizens
Increase civil society participation
A common approach for mainstreaming
Promote safety of products and human origin substances
Enhance scientific advice and risk assessment
Promote international co-operation
Linked to the common objectives there are common actions:
Improve communication with citizens, through awareness raising, surveys, seminars to mention some
Increase civil society participation, through promoting networking, wider public consultations and to increase the representation in consultation bodies
3) To Mainstream through develop a common approach for integrating health and consumer concerns to policies and exchange best practices.
4) To Promote safety of products and substances of human origin. Analyses of injuries data, activities to enhance safety etc..
5) Enhance scientific advice and risk assessment, improve identification of emerging risks, Promote training and communication
6) Promote international co-operation, with international organisations, with third countries outside the PHP

11. 4. Health objectives Protect citizens against health threats
Promote a healthier way of life
Contribute to reducing diseases
Help national health systems
Provide more and better health information
If we go to the 5 health objectives. An underlying theme in the strategy is to tackle health inequalities, matters related to ageing and a focus on childhood dimension of health promotion and protection. But is also an objective to
Protect citizens against health threats – where there is a need for a coordinated response.
Promote a healthier way of life – as a way to tackeling non-communicable diseases and to contribute to reducing diseases
3) Reduction of major diseases.
4) The lisbon strategy conculded that EU support to health care systems can provide important added value. Therefore it is an objective to help national health systems.
5) The EU will continue the work related to provision of more and better health information.

12. 4. Health action Reinforce existing 3 action strands
Monitoring/Surveillance of Threats
Address Determinants
Provide Information
Add 3 new action strands
Deliver effective response to threats
Prevent diseases and injuries
Achieve synergies between national health systems
To implement these objectives there will be added three strands to the current strands on (Helath determinants, information and threats)
These are:
4) Prevent diseases and injuries
Complement national efforts on major/rare diseases and Reduce accidents and injuries. Identification of best practice, developing guidelines and recommendations, exchange of best practices…..
5) Rapid response to threats (emergencies)
Improve preparedness for rapid intervention, Develop and maintain the capacity related to the preparedness
6) Achieve synergies between national health systems
Work together to meet common challenges, Share information, centres of excellence, health technology assessment and patient safety
Establish a community system for cooperation on centres of reference, network for strenghtening the capacity to develop and share assessments related to health technology assessments.

13. 4.Health objectives and strands
Protect
citizens
Promote
health
Reduce
disease
Help
national
systems
Provide +
information
Information
Action strands
new
new
new
This picture is supposed to give you an overview of how the health objectives in the new programme is linked to actions and strands under the new programme.
You see the new strands : Prevent/tackle diseases, Rapid response to threats (emergencies), Achieve synergies
In relation to the old strands. You see the importants role of information gathering and dissemination as feeding into other actions and strands.
So I hope this have given you an idea about what is currently existing of possibilities for funding and some areas for future priorities.
Most of this is available on the internet. And we would will as Mr Sauer said now answer some questions you may have.
Thank you for your attention
Surveillance of
threats
Deliver
effective
response
Tackle
Determinants
Prevent
diseases
Health
systems
co-operation

14. Further information Public health:
Public Health Programme:
Constitution:
Cohesion Policy:
So I hope this have given you an idea about what is currently existing of possibilities for funding and some areas for future priorities.
Most of this is available on the internet. And we would will as Mr Sauer said now answer some questions you may have.
Thank you for your attention