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Please click here for the 7th section newsletter.
Please click here for the 6th section newsletter.
Please click here for the 5th section newsletter.
Please click here for the 4th section newsletter.
Please click here for the 3rd section newsletter.
Please click here for the 2nd section newsletter.
Please click here for the 1st section newsletter.
EUPHActs 2014-1 on health monitoring and reporting now available here!
The EUPHA section on public health monitoring and reporting has taken the lead in publishing a EUPHActs in September 2014 on the need for health monitoring and information. EUPHActs is a 2-page summary on a specific topic.
Read the 1st edition of the section PHMR newsletter here!
Click here to read the letter to the Editor of the European Journal of Public Health concerning the Round Table PHMR organised at the 6th European Public Health Conference in Brussels, 2013.
Factsheet EU Data Protection Regulation (18 December 2013)
EUPHA has produced a one page Factsheet describing the current situation and the consequences of the proposed regulation and amendments. The factsheet enables our members to raise awareness among the wider public health community and among decision makers.
RESPONSE BY EUPHA TO THE REPORT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S COMMITTEE ON THE GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (21 February 2013)
In coordination with other European public health organisations, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), the Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM), the International Epidemiological Association (IEA), and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, EUPHA has submitted a response to the report by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on the proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation (2012/0011(COD).
Read the Response on the Data Protection Regulation report here.
Sometimes for PHMR it is necessary to use person identifiable health data (PIHD), most importantly for linking different databases at the subject level. The extent to which this is possible differs between European Member States (MS). These differences are the result of the European Data Protection Directive, which is not harmonizing with regard to the use of PIHD for public health purposes; the Directive itself does not directly acknowledge public health as a ground for allowing the processing of PIHD, but it does leave open the possibility for MS to develop additional national legislation that allows for this. Not all MS have used this possibility.
In 2005-2008 a group of experts assessed the extent of the problems related to data protection legislation for PHMR in the EU and the role of public health in the Data Protection Directive. Their final position paper (Position Paper Data Protection) was presented to the European Commission and the Network of Competent Authorities (advisory body Commission in field of health information) in 2008. Based on their investigations also a commentary in the EJPH was published.
During the 2010 EUPHA conference in Amsterdam, the initiative for a EUPHA section on PHMR organized a workshop on data protection and PHMR. The current situation was sketched, and some best practice examples were presented, showing how within the current legal framework it is possible to have high quality health information systems, including linking possibilities, while at the same time ensuring adequate safeguards for the data subject.
At the time of the 2010 EUPHA conference a public consultation organized by DG Justice was ongoing, collected input for a revision of the Data Protection Directive. As it was deemed important that the voice of the public health research community was heard in this process, during the workshop it was decided that a reaction would be submitted, based on the main conclusions from the workshop. This reaction was elaborated by several contributors to the workshop, and was supported by a number of supporters of the inititiative for a EUPHA section on PHMR, as well as by other public health experts.
In the summer of 2011, a commentary was published in the EJPH, which was based on the position paper submitted during the public consultation regarding the revision of the Data Protection Directive (see above).
Early 2012 a proposal for the new Data Protection law (Regulation) was published by the Commission.
More information on the Data Protection Directive and the revision procedure including the outcomes of the public consultation, can be found at the website of DG Justice.
