COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 4 December 1997 concerning the report on the state of women's health in the European Community (97/C 394/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

REFERRING TO the Commission report of 19 July 1995 on the state of health in the European Community and the Council's conclusions of 30 November 1995 (1);

RECALLING that, in the aforementioned conclusions, the Council considered that the preparation of reports containing comprehensive and accurate information on health status, determinants of health and health-related activities throughout the Community provides a way in which to help improve public knowledge and understanding of major health problems in the Community and of the action and programmes being undertaken at Community and Member State level;

RECALLING also that in the said conclusions the Council agreed to consider further the objective and format of future reports, the sources of data to be used, the frequency of their publication and how they might be used as a basis for determining priorities for Community action;

WELCOMES the Commission's report of 22 May 1997 on the state of women's health in the European Community;

OBSERVES that this report highlights a lack of reliable, up-to-date and comparable data as well as a lack of data broken down according to gender;

NOTES that this report shows a considerable increase in women's life expectancy since 1970 and continuing differences between the life expectancy of women in the different Member States and between the life expectancy of men and that of women;

NOTES also that the report highlights sexual and reproductive health problems, the increase in breast and lung cancers, the problem of violence against women with its adverse impact on physical and psychological health, the high number of attempted suicides, the different aspects of eating disorders and the extent of chronic illnesses resulting from women's increased life expectancy;

CONSIDERS that the specific problems linked to women's health should be taken into account when the new framework for action in the field of public health is being considered;

CONSIDERS THAT, for the purposes of drawing up future reports,

- the objective of the reports should be to provide information on health trends and determinants which can be used in the planning, among other things, of measures to be undertaken at Community level as well as for the evaluation of those already being carried out,

- topics should be selected according to their significance for future Community measures in the field of health,

- these reports should take account of the socio-economic factors affecting health, analyse in greater depth, in the fields considered, the data and the differences between Member States and their causes, and, where appropriate, formulate operational conclusions for action at Community level;

STRESSES that Member States should be consulted in advance and the competent authorities/bodies of the Member States associated with the preparation of these reports, including the validation of data;

EMPHASIZES that the actions to be implemented under the programme of Community action on health monitoring within the framework for action in the field of public health (1997 to 2001) (2) are aimed, inter alia, at establishing Community indicators by developing appropriate methods for collecting health data rendered progressively more comparable, as well as support for analyses and reports on health status, trends and determinants;

CONSIDERS that this work, carried out in close cooperation with the Member States, is an essential contribution towards improving the quality and comparability of the data so as to increase the reliability of the reports;

CONSIDERS that this work will also contribute towards the definition of an appropriate methodology for preparing future reports and the improvement of their quality and value;

CALLS upon the Member States to proceed with the breakdown of health data by gender, account being taken of socio-economic factors, and to gather more data concerning health problems specific to women, paying particular attention to improving women's quality of life, given inter alia the increase in women's life expectancy;

CALLS upon the Commission to:

- take due account of this report in implementing the programmes under way and in developing future action, including determining the priorities for Community action,

- attach particular importance to improving the quality and comparability of health data and to their breakdown according to gender in the framework of the programme of Community action on health monitoring,

- for the preparation of future reports, consult the Member States in an appropriate manner, in particular in the committee for the health monitoring programme, in order to determine the objective and format of future reports, the frequency with which they should appear, the choice of topics, the data sources to be used, the methods to be followed and the selection of coordinators.

(1) OJ C 350, 30. 12. 1995, p. 1.

(2) Decision No 1400/97/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 (OJ L 193, 22. 7. 1997, p. 1).