The Council of Europe's conference on the protection of health is showcasing the panoply of work that the organisation is doing in the area of healthcare. There is a lot to show.
Health is a human right. The organisation has been involved in a huge range of activities in the area, from ethical use of AI in treatment and ensuring the quality of medicines in Europe, to legally defining the line between freedom of expression and medical disinformation.
The Council of Europe has been responding to a range of forces - social inequality, environmental degradation, demographic shifts, and global crises such as pandemics and conflicts - which are damaging health provision, healthcare outcomes, and as a result human rights. It has been working with European countries to ensure that they act locally, nationally and internationally to alleviate the relevant issues.
Key speakers
Speaking at the conference, Secretary General Alain Berset noted that "Protecting health is the measure of the strength of our democracies and the values we share." He recalled that the "New Democratic Pact for Europe is a call to make democracy tangible in people's daily lives. So that everyone in Europe can enjoy equal access to rights - including the right to health".
Malta's Minister for Health and Active Ageing Jo Etienne Abela also addressed the conference: "Malta's presidency priorities, protecting children and combating disinformation and misinformation, are public health imperatives". "Health protection is a shared responsibility, one that demands vigilance, innovation and a steadfast commitment to the rights and well-being of every individual," he said.
Policymakers, legal experts, public health professionals, civil society leaders, representatives of financial institutions, including the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), as well as the World Health Organization and the European Union discussed the challenges and strategic approaches for advancing health protection across Europe.
This conference supports the Council of Europe's vision for a New Democratic Pact for Europe, linking health protection to human rights and democratic values, and reinforces commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good health and well-being).
Health in the age of disinformation
Mr Berset also penned a recent article entitled "Health in the age of disinformation: protecting truth, protecting democracy", which was published to mark the World health summit in Berlin from 12-14 October. Disinformation, he states, is already eroding our trust in and therefore access to healthcare, harming quality of life, especially among already disadvantaged communities. Mr Berset furthermore points out that although artificial intelligence (AI) "holds enormous potential for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, it also carries serious ethical risks - from bias in healthcare algorithms to the mass spread of AI-generated health disinformation, with direct implications for human rights and dignity" (a new Council of Europe Convention on disinformation and foreign influence, to help restore trust, is now in the works).
Oviedo Convention
On the sidelines of the conference, Armenia ratified the Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (1997), the first legally binding international treaty to protect human dignity and rights against the misuse of biological and medical advances.
Secretary General Alain Berset's speech
Address by Hon Jo Etienne Abela, Minister for Health and Active Ageing of Malta
The Council of Europe and health
Conference on the protection of health
Secretary General Alain Berset
European Directorate for the Quality of Medicine
