Three years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, mortality rates in Europe are approximately 10% higher than expected in a normal year. In mid-December 2022, the number of deaths in France and Germany were 25% higher. Squeezed budgets, sicker populations post-COVID, exhausted health and care workers and increasingly ageing European populations do explain, to some extent, these worrying trends. However, the question remains how to learn from the health pandemic and how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of European health and care systems.
Against this backdrop, the conference of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), on 25 May at the Europahuset in Stockholm, will explore both Swedish and European perspectives on health, care and prosperity post COVID-19. What was the impact of the pandemic on European health systems? Why do we need European cooperation in the health and care sectors? How do we build resilient and qualitative health and care systems in the EU? How do we guarantee the right to health care, enhancing accessibility and protecting the most vulnerable?
This conference is organised in the framework of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU. It will take place from 09:15 to 16:45, with the participation of the following high-level speakers:
- Lena Hallengren, Member of Parliament, former Swedish Minister for Health and Social Policy (2019-2022)
- Miriam Söderström, State Secretary to the Swedish Minister for Health Care
- Anette Richardson, Head of Unit for Preparedness and Crisis Management at the Swedish Public Health Agency
- Dr Andrea Ammon, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
For more information, please consult the draft programme.
Simultaneous interpretation will be available in English, French and Swedish.
This is an in-person conference, which will be live streamed on the event web page. Please register by 12:00 on 22 May 2023.