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During the recent conference “Prevention and Public Health in the Program of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council,” organized by IRSS, these two interesting perspectives were shared.

The Rector of the Medical University of Warsaw, Prof. Rafał Krenke, highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine significantly impacted the increase in Poland’s spending on prevention. However, the challenge facing the European Union is to balance the amounts allocated for this purpose across member states. “Spending on preventive medicine (…) increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a colossal growth of about 88%. But when looking at EU data and remembering the principle that a group is only as strong as its weakest link, we see significant differences within the EU. Regarding spending on preventive medicine, Austria allocates 1.5% of its GDP, while Poland only allocates 0.14% (…) Only 14 countries spend more than €100 per capita on this purpose,” Prof. Krenke stated.

Dr. Małgorzata Gałązka-Sobotka, Dean of the Postgraduate Education Center and Director of the Institute of Healthcare Management at Lazarski University, remarked that a fundamental mistake is made when evaluating the impact of various public policies on the economy and competitiveness, as we forget that the primary component in regulatory impact assessments should first be the evaluation of the impact of these regulations on public health. “My personal dream is for Health Impact Assessment to become a standard in European lawmaking, thereby deeply embedding prevention and public health considerations into every health protection sector,” she said.

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