On May 20th, Wemos and partner organisations will launch the Pillars of Health coalition and website during our online interactive event in the European Public Health Association’s (EUPHA) European Public Health Week. Together with panelists, we will discuss the maldistribution of health workers in the European Union and neighbouring countries, and how Pillars of Health and its coalition aims to contribute to a solution. Join our event to learn how to get involved in our coalition!
Pillars of Health – a partnership of the Center for Health Policies and Services, Media Education Centre, VU Athena Institute, and Wemos (lead partner) – aims to build a coalition of EU-based organisations that wants to contribute to an equitable geographic distribution of health workers across the EU. We aim to achieve this by doing joint advocacy and stimulating debate between civil society, policymakers and other relevant stakeholders on the development and implementation of EU-level tools and measures on health worker migration and mobility.
While the EU internal market brings benefits such as freedom of movement, including for health workers – we see that the excessive and asymmetric migration flows of health workers have contributed to an unequal geographic distribution of health workers, which mainly benefits the more affluent countries in the EU. The maldistribution of health workers has therefore significantly impacted the health systems resilience and the health of the populations of the affected countries.
Join us on May 20th to:
- Discuss the maldistribution of health workers in the European Union and neighboring countries , and how this compromises equal access to health workers for EU citizens, and undermines the prosperity and solidarity values of the European Union.
- Learn how the Pillars of Health coalition aims to contribute to a solution, and how you can get involved by joining the coalition via the new website www.pillars-of-health.eu (note: currently in development).
Date: Friday May 20th, 2022
Time: 14:00 – 15:15 (CET)
Language: English
Registration: via this link (Zoom)
Please find the agenda details below. We hope to see you on the 20th!
Visit the EUPHA website for more information about the event and the European Public Health Week.
Agenda
14:00 – 14:15
Welcome
Brief introduction on:
The maldistribution of health workers in the European Union
Pillars of Health
14:15 – 14:25
Pillars of Health, a partnership for advocacy
Our research findings so far
The stories of health workers who migrate
14:25 – 14:45
Panel discussion with:
- Dr Vytenis Andriukaitis (Special Envoy of the WHO for Universal Health Coverage for the European region and Member of the Political Advisory Panel of the UHC 2030 Movement (since 2020); former EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety (2014-2019))
- Prof James Buchan (Senior Fellow at the Health Foundation, London)
- Sarada Das (Deputy Secretary General of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME))
- Dr Milena Santric Milicevic (Prof Social Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia)
14:45 – 14:55
Q&A session
14:55 – 15:05
Pillars of Health coalition: joining forces for health worker balance in Europe
15:05 – 15:15
How to get involved
