Official Health Portal of the European Union

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The Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General is pleased to present the Health-EU Portal (the official public health portal of the European Union) and the wide range of information and data on health-related issues and activities at both European and international.

The EU Public Health Portal now available in 20 languages

• portalen for folkesundhed
• Gesundheit-EU. Das Portal der Europ?ischen Union zur ?ffentlichen Gesundheit
• Tervis-EL. Euroopa Liidu rahvatervise portaal
• Υγεία-EΕ. Η δικτυακή πύλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης για τη δη?σια υγεία
• Health-EU. The Public Health Portal of the European Union
• Salud-UE. El portal de salud p?blica de la Uni?n Europea
• Sant?-UE. Le portail de la sant? publique de l'Union europ?enne
• Salute-UE. Il portale dell'Unione europea sulla salute pubblica
• Veselība ES. Eiropas Savienības veselības aizsardzības portāls
• Sveikata-ES. Europos Sąjungos portalas apie sveikatos apsaugą
• Eg?szs?g-EU. Az Eur?pai Uni? k?zeg?szs?g?gyi port?lja
• Saħħa-UE. Il-Portal tas-Saħħa Pubblika ta? l-Unjoni Ewropea
• Gezondheid-EU. Het volksgezondheidsportaal van de Europese Unie
• Zdrowie-UE. Portal zdrowia publicznego Unii Europejskiej
• Sa?de-UE. O portal de sa?de p?blica da Uni?o Europeia
• Zdravie-E?. Port?l Eur?pskej ?nie o verejnom zdrav?
• Zdravje-EU. Javnozdravstveni portal Evropske unije
• Terveys-EU. Euroopan unionin kansanterveysportaali
• H?lso-EU. Europeiska unionens folkh?lsoportal

[Snowy Owl]

Re: Official Health Portal of the European Union

<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="95%"><tbody> <tr> <td class="titletextbox">Avian Influenza

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Avian influenza or "bird flu" is a highly contagious viral disease which primarily affects birds, but on rare occasions can also be contracted by humans and other mammals. There are many different strains and sub-types of the disease, some more pathogenic and destructive than others.


The strain of avian influenza which is currently causing concern is highly pathogenic H5N1. It has affected many countries worldwide, including parts of Asia, Africa and Europe.



H5N1 can spread rapidly through poultry flocks and wild birds are considered to be contributing to its spread around the globe.



It does not jump easily from birds to humans. However some cases of H5N1 in humans have been detected, where the affected person were known to have come into very close contact with infected birds.


The European Commission has stepped up preventive measures against avian influenza, in response to the threat of H5N1.



All Member States have increased their avian influenza surveillance and the Commission is providing co-funding for the monitoring of wild birds and domestic poultry.



Tighter bio-security measures to limit contact between wild birds and poultry, such as keeping poultry indoors, are in place in high-risk areas in order to prevent or limit the spread of the disease.



Furthermore strict EU measures are laid down which must be taken by a Member State in the event of an outbreak in its country.



EU legislation on avian influenza has been reviewed taking into account lessons learned in recent years and includes new measures such as authorising preventive vaccination in very specific cases. EU import bans have also been placed on potentially risky poultry products and susceptible imports from third countries with H5N1 outbreaks.


The animal health website provides detailed information on avian influenza and the response at EU level.



The public health pages deals with the threat H5N1 can pose to human health, as well as EU action to prepare for a possible human influenza pandemic.


<li class="texte">Animal Health aspects <li class="texte">Public Health aspects
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Press Releases:

</td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="80">06-02-2007</td> <td>Avian Influenza: UK measures endorsed; Member States urged to tighten protection measures against H5N1 </td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="80">05-02-2007</td> <td>Avian Influenza: H5N1 virus confirmed in UK </td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="80">25-01-2007</td> <td>Avian Influenza: Highly pathogenic H5 virus confirmed in Hungary </td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="80">04-12-2006</td> <td>Ban on imports of live captive birds prolonged </td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="80">05-09-2006</td> <td>Avian Influenza: German vaccination, Romanian imports </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">Read all the Avian Influenza Press Releases</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">
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Situation Overview

• Situation assessment reports of the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health), JRC (Joint Research Centre) and the WHO (World Health Organisation)
• Factsheet on Avian Influenza
• Ten Key Facts About Avian Influenza
• Press packs :
  • Media seminar on flu pandemic preparedness and avian influenza
  • Flu media briefing
  • Flu pandemic preparedness
• Video report on avian influenza - 15 Mb wmv - rm
• International conference on Vaccination against Avian Influenza, 20-22 March, Verona, Italy
• National websites

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[Snowy Owl]

Re: Official Health Portal of the European Union

Health-EU Portal Now Available In 20 Languages

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=64002

Worried that you'll let those New Year's resolutions slide and want to find out more about healthier living? Are you a health professional wanting to read up on the latest EU legislation? Concerned about the risks of pandemic flu? Going on holiday and need some advice about vaccinations or access to healthcare? Do you want to know more about the EU's health policy and how it affects you?

From today, Health-EU is now available in 20 European languages at http://health.europa.eu. Initially launched in English in May 2006 by the European Commission's Directorate General for Health and Consumer Affairs, It is a 'one stop shop' for Europeans wanting to find out what's happening across a broad spectrum of health issues in their own countries and across Europe. It is aimed at everybody interested in health, as well as healthcare professionals, scientists and policy makers.

Information gathering

The portal brings together all the major international and non governmental (NGO) links, all the news, events, advice and expertise from across Europe and shows that eHealth in today's society can bring Europeans together. Whether the user is concerned about the risks of smoking, air pollution, bio-terrorism or the quality of ingredients used in their children's school dinners, the portal gives easy access to reliable information from health professionals and policy makers. Embracing the use of the internet to create an innovative and dynamic eHealth environment shows the EU's commitment towards implementing multilingual ICT resources and a willingness to embrace and encourage the use of new technology.

"Healthy eating", "physical activity", "HIV/AIDS", "road safety", "cancer" - the amount of health terminology we are bombarded with in our everyday lives is staggering. Type in a few keywords into a search engine and the results are often confusing, unstructured, and unreliable. Last year nearly half of all people in the EU used the internet regularly. In the first quarter of 2006, 47% of individuals used the internet at least once a week from home, at work, on the move using WIFI technology or at an internet caf?. With millions of EU citizens using the internet as their main daily information fix it is no surprise that they consequently browse the net when they have a health concern, often using forums or chatrooms to talk to people online about their issues.

Healthier choices

One of the main goals of the Portal is to help people take responsibility for their own health, to raise awareness about health issues and to provide news of health related events and developments across Europe in one easy 'dose'. There are six major thematic areas in the portal which provide reliable and easily accessible information and statistics on a wide range of topics:

-- "My Health" e.g. prenatal health monitoring, nutrition and physical activity, food and product safety.

-- "My Lifestyle" e.g. nutrition, alcohol, drugs and tobacco, travel, sports and leisure, and sex.

-- "My Environment" e.g. environmental health and consumer safety, physical, biological and chemical risks, road safety, and bioterrorism.

-- "Health Problems" e.g. mental health, HIV/AIDS, influenza, cancer, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases.

-- "Care for Me" e.g. patient safety, mobility, long-term care, treatment, and carers.

-- "Health in the EU" e.g. policies, programmes, research, prevention and promotion, health indicators, and statistics.

Trustworthy sources

Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said: "The Health-EU Portal is a very large project bringing together all EU Member States as well as EFTA nations, international organisations and NGOs. Web surfers will have access to thousands of links to trustworthy sources. The translation of the Portal into all official EU languages means that up to 1.5 billion people worldwide can use it to help them to make healthy choices."

Gateway to a healthy EU

Visitors will also find facts about the latest news, events, statistics and health indicators at European level, in addition to legislation and publications relevant to their health topic of interest.

There is information from all European agencies with a role in health, for example those working on communicable diseases, drug prevention, medicines and health and safety at work. A Member States' section gives access to health and health-related policies of all EU governments and further sections on European NGOs and international organisations give details of their work.

Background

The Health-EU project is an initiative of the EU Public Health Programme 2003-2008 with financial support from the Interchange of Data between Administrations, which aims to promote greater involvement of the public, institutions, organisations and associations in health. The Portal also corresponds with the aims of the e-Europe Action Plan - providing citizens with simple, clear and scientifically sound online information.

An Editorial Board composed of Commission services and Member States representatives oversees the content development of the Portal using standard procedures.

(1) http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleases...guiLanguage=en

http://health.europa.eu