2010 European year for combating poverty and social exclusion
The 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion which was established by the Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities department within the European Commission came into being after the dismal results that came from the ‘eradicating poverty' initiative, for all major players within governments. This initiative was created at the launch of the Lisbon Strategy in March 2000. Even after this initiative, in October 2009, in a press release about the Euro Barometer results of 2009, it was stated that 73% of Europeans still considered poverty to be a major problem in their country. In reality, if effective action against poverty had been taken between 2000 and 2009, then this percentage of people would be significantly smaller.
For example:
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30% of European countries are on track to achieve their Millennium Development Goals targets of 2015 to achieve their child mortality target, which is a reduction of two thirds of the current mortality rate.
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the actual maternal mortality rate for Europe is 44 deaths /100,000 live births when in reality, its target for 2010 is meant to be around 30 / 100,000.
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21 of the 23 European states involved in this initiative are on track to improve the attendance of specialized staff at births.
Since Europe is considered to be a continent with a lot of developed countries, these statistics are quite disturbing.
purpose of the year
This year promotes recognition (the principle that everyone deserves a right to live in dignity and to play an active part in society), sharing the responsibility of tackling poverty amongst civil society, formulating a set of joint policy guidelines at national level for Europe, European supervision and implementation of relevant activities as well as national information and awareness campaigns organized by each country.
Why EHFCN supports the year
EHFCN would like to support this year and this European campaign as it has identified that a basic right to healthcare is often impeded by regular occurrences of fraud and corruption. EHFCN would like to eliminate these occurrences so that everyone has a basic right to healthcare.
Background information/statistics
Under the Euro Barometer 2009 on Poverty and Social Exclusion, it was highlighted that 45% of Europeans feel that long term care services are not affordable. Additionally, under the 2009 survey of monitoring the social impact of the crisis: public perceptions in the European Union, there was a difference in being able to afford general healthcare based on the variables of sex, income generated, type or work and age. Also, between 27% and 34% of Europeans felt that healthcare had got more expensive. In a 2010 Eurostat survey on combating poverty and social exclusion, there are still differences between the amount of GDP spent on healthcare in year for example, between countries like Netherlands and Bulgaria.
Although these figures do not suggest a direct link to fraud and corruption, it still shows that healthcare is being impeded and proper access to healthcare is not being guaranteed. Access to healthcare is a core belief of the EHFCN and so we would like to see more individuals being entitled to a basic fundamental right.
Press release on Poverty Eurobarometer 2009
Combating poverty and social exclusion - A statistical portrait of the European Union 2010
Monitoring the social impact of the crisis: public perceptions in the European Union
Eurobarometer Survey on poverty and social exclusion2010, the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion