The European Commission has published last 17th April the COM(2008) 198 final related to the Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council about the Implementation of the Public Health Programme in 2006.

Commission must regularly monitor the implementation of the actions under the “Community action in the field of public health (2003-2008)” in the light of the objectives. This report aims to inform the European Parliament and the Council of the implementation of the Public Health Programme in 2006.

The programme’s overall budget for 2003-2008 was EUR 354 million. The budget for 2006 was estimated at EUR 55 817 661 in Commission Decision 2006/89/EC of 10 February 2006 adopting the work plan for 2006 for the implementation of the programme of Community action in the field of public health (2003-2008), including the annual work programme for grants. The operating budget and the administrative budget were estimated respectively at EUR 53,863,521 and EUR 1,954,140. The indicative amount for grants was EUR 47,798,344.

Calls, Tenders and Grants.

A single call for proposals, covering all work plan activities for 2006, was published on 14 February 2006 with a total of 281 applications.

A budget of EUR 500 000 was set for sub-delegation to Eurostat. Under that Article, Eurostat launched two calls for proposal to support national statistical authorities:

• For the implementation in 2006-2008 of the European Core Health Interview Survey modules;
• For the implementation and further expansion of the System of Health Accounts in the EU (in cooperation with OECD and the WHO).

Call for tenders:

• A Eurobarometer survey on health risks in the 25 Member States and 4 neighbouring countries that covered perception of and information on the following four themes: potential health risks linked to electromagnetic fields, alcohol-related risks, smoking-related risks and organ donation.
• Continuation of the maintenance and development of the Public Health Portal, with the aim of improving its accessibility and of extending the number of languages available online.
• An administrative agreement with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to provide scientific support and advice on implementing Directive 2001/37/EC  of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2001 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products. This support will help to harmonise the reporting system for tobacco ingredients, to enhance Member States’ tobacco control laboratory cooperation and to provide scientific advice on issues relevant to the regulatory process.
• A report on the situation regarding drug treatment and sharing good practice, i.e. the quality of treatment services in Europe, with a specific focus on the development of know-how on drug treatment and sharing best practice. It also included the preparation of a Recommendation to develop “prevention, treatment and harm reduction services for people in prisons, reintegration services on release from prisons and methods to monitor/analyse drug use among prisoners”.
• A contract with Rand Europe to evaluate the uptake of healthy life years indicators.

Grants for the WHO, amounting to total co-funding of EUR 2,500,000.

Health information activities

• Report on “Alcohol in Europe: A public health perspective”
• First European Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion.
• Six Eurobarometer studies on different subjects (medical errors, AIDS prevention, food and health, tobacco attitudes, mental wellbeing, and health prevention).
• e-Health High-Level Conference.
• “Europe for health and wealth” project.
• PERISTAT project.
• European Primary Immunodeficiencies Consensus Conference.