|
|
|
|
The conference is open to the media
|
Council of Europe ministerial conference in Oslo to discuss health, dignity and human rights
|
|
Ministers from more than 45 countries are invited to discuss in Oslo, on 12 and 13 June, health challenges arising from new technology and social changes. These include the implications of genetic screening and testing for the availability, organisation and financing of health care services. Also on the agenda, how to forge alliances between countries to respond effectively on a pan-European level to global health threats such as the SARS virus. A ministerial declaration will be adopted at the end of the conference. (more ...)
|
 Programme
Photos
Contacts
Conference website
|
European Health Ministers call for human rights dimension in access to high-quality health care
|
|
The Seventh Conference of European Health Ministers, meeting in Oslo on 12 and 13 June 2003, has called on the Council of Europe to intensify its work on the social, ethical and human rights dimensions of health care and related services. In a declaration adopted at the end of the two-day conference, on the theme of “Health, dignity and human rights”, the Ministers requested the Council of Europe to propose measures aimed at reducing inequalities in access to high-quality health care, both within and between countries. (more...)
|
Final declaration
Summary - Oslo
|
Franz Thönnes: ''Innovation and reform can boost patient dignity''
|
|
Health service reforms need to be just as concerned with patients' dignity as with quality of care and technological innovation says Franz Thönnes, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Ministry of Health.
|
Interview
|
Council of Europe and WHO: complementary tools and methods to promote health and human rights
|
|
Council of Europe and WHO leaders reaffirmed their commitment in Oslo to strengthening co-operation, already well-established in many fields. (more…)
|
Interview
|
Dagfinn Hoeybraten calls for greater openness about day-to-day decisions in hospitals
|
|
The Oslo conference of health ministers coincides with Norway's efforts to revise its legislation on bioethics and patients' rights and will allow the country to compare its experience with that of its neighbours, says its Minister of Health, Dagfinn Hoeybraten.
|
Interview
|
Mihaly Kökeny says the Council of Europe is helping to keep in touch with patients
|
|
The Hungarian State Secretary for Health, Mihaly Kökeny, hopes that the Council of Europe's member countries will form a joint body to develop and finance new medical technologies and stresses the organisation's role in avoiding commercial abuses in the health field.
|
Interview
|
Rafael Pérez-Santamarina Feijoo thinks that patients' rights now include shorter waiting lists
|
|
Even with a totally regionalised health system, Spain's legislation on patient autonomy, social cohesion and quality of care guarantees all citizens equal access to the treatment they need, says Rafael Pérez-Santamarina Feijoo, Spanish Secretary General for Health.
|
Interview
|
Council of Europe introduces ethical and human rights dimension into various health issues
|
|
''This conference, rightly called ''Health, Dignity and Human Rights'', is attempting to find a response to some of the more pressing challenges, and will not fail to be inspired by those basic concepts which for the last 50 years have given Europe solid foundations built on the dignity of the individual''. These words are those of Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, as she opened the Conference. She pointed to the organisation's tangible achievements and emphasised the importance of co-operation with partners such as the WHO and EU.
|
Speech
|
Setting human rights at the heart of health policies
|
|
Although all of the Council of Europe’s activities in the health field are directly inspired by the principle of the primacy of human rights, on which the Council bases its work, it has never conducted programmes with the specific aim of promoting these rights in its member States’ health policies. Consequently, the Oslo Ministerial Conference on 12 and 13 June intends to set human rights at the heart of health policies, at a time when problems concerning access to care, as well as developments in biology and medical techniques, may pose a threat to individual dignity and freedoms. (more…) Photo : Gamma
|
Working session themes
|
- Managing the impact of the changing societies on Health, Dignity and Human Rights
- Managing the impact of new technologies on Health, Dignity and Human Rights
- The role and responsibility of Health Ministers in meeting the challenges of the changes in society and new technology at the beginning of the third millennium
|
Background information
|
6th Conference of European Health Ministers "Ageing in the 21st Century: The need for a balanced approach towards healthy ageing" - Athens - 22-23 April 1999
5th Conference of Health Ministers: "Equity and Patients' Rights in the context of health reforms", 7-8 November 1996, Warsaw, Poland
|
Speeches
|
Dagfinn Høybråten, Health Minister of Norway
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization
|
Useful links
|
Social cohesion
Special file «Health policy»
Norwegian Health Ministry’s site
|
