The European Union sets an objective of a high level of human health protection in the definition and implementation of all its policies and activities.
To reach this objective, the EU supports disease prevention and health promotion, cooperation between health systems, cross-border health and cooperation on e-health, rare diseases and health technology assessment, medicinal products and medical devices, and tobacco control.
It also includes protecting the health and welfare of farm animals and guaranteeing food safety and sustainability. Our EU team provides evidenced-based monitoring and evaluation services in these areas with the ultimate purpose of contributing to informed policy-making that will enhance health and safety of citizens globally.
Project highlights
Study on best practices in the public procurement of medicines
Our study for the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) provided valuable insights into best practices in the public procurement of medicines. We collated examples from inpatient and outpatient sectors across the EU and EFTA/EEA countries (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland).
Our recommendations were crucial to identifying barriers and challenges in the sector, and to optimise public procurement of medicines for millions of citizens across Europe.
Ensuring cross-border healthcare
EU nationals have the right to seek planned healthcare in another EU country. They can also have their treatment costs reimbursed from their national health system or health insurance provider.
We supported the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) to evaluate the performance of the Directive. A crucial part of the policy, our study enabled the Directive to efficiently promote healthcare cooperation between member states – especially the European Reference Networks for rare and low prevalence complex diseases, collaboration in border regions and recognition of medical prescriptions.
Evaluating national policies on antimicrobial resistance
Every year, around 33.000 people die from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – the ability of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites to develop resistance to the drugs that treat infections. The issue of AMR is also associated with high healthcare costs.
Our team at Tetra Tech – along with our partners – lead a study to identify and analyse potential barriers to the EU One Health Action Plan against AMR, which the European Commission adopted in June 2017.
