Brussels, 03/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - At a conference on the results and future perspectives of the EU Health Programme on 3 May, Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli launched the fourth consecutive annual health prize for journalists. To be considered for the top prizes, journalists are invited to submit articles on: (1) one or more of the topics of the Europe for Patients campaign; (2) active and healthy ageing, as part of the European Year for active ageing and solidarity between generations 2012; (3) stopping smoking, the special prize topic.
Heidi (Health in Europe: Information and Data Interface), which disseminates health information, was also presented at the conference. Heidi is an internet-based wiki presenting EU-wide information on health status, determinants, health services and a number of other topics. With its abundance of health data and indicators, which can be broken down per year, by country and by region, the Heidi wiki could be of immense value to policy makers, researchers, health professionals and journalists (http://ec.europa.eu/health/heidi ). Since 2008, the health programme has provided funding of close to €237 million for projects. The current programme will run until the end of 2013. The new Health Programme is part of the EU's financial priorities for 2014-2020 (the EU multiannual financial framework), which was announced by the European Commission in June 2011. If discussions in the Council of Ministers and in the European Parliament proceed smoothly, the Health Programme should be adopted by the end of 2012, and begin in 2014. (IL/transl.rt)