Azerbaijan takes up Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe - Priorities of the Chairmanship include ensuring social cohesion and social sustainability, and promoting access to human rights of vulnerable groups. Nurturing a generation of educated and responsible youth and ensuring their access to their rights will also be high on the agenda during the Chairmanship. For more information, click here.

10th Anniversary of WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health - On this occasion, Consumers International and the World Obesity Federation published Recommendations Towards a Global Convention to Promote and Protect Healthy Diets. Click here to read their press release.

Food Policy Highlights from Around the World - The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has developed together with the World Obesity Federation and Consumers International a publication highlighting robust food policy actions from around the world that governments can use to promote healthy eating. Click here to access the pulication.

Monitoring of medicines safety improves across the EU: European Medicines Agency report - The first EMA report on the implementation of the new EU pharmacovigilance legislation reveals positive results including better collection of key information on medicines, improved analysis and understanding of data and information, improved timeliness of procedures and greater transparency. To access the report, click here.

Third Health Programme: annual work plan for 2014 adopted - The programme is the key tool to support EU health policy, to foster cooperation with Member States and health stakeholders and to help improve health outcomes across the European Union. In 2014, actions identified for project funding include: Potential of innovation for the prevention and management of major chronic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases...); Promotion of early diagnosis and screening of preventable chronic diseases; Development of innovative approaches to promote the professional reintegration of people with chronic diseases and improving their employability.

Click here to access the work plan.

European Commission publishes study on “Delivering on EU food safety and nutrition in 2050 - Scenarios of future change and policy response” -  This foresight study aims to provide insight and guidance for future policy-making and the research which underpins EU policy in the area of food safety and nutrition. To access the publication, click here. 

In other news, outcomes from the 2014 EU eHealth week can be found here.
A list of pending EU policy files can be found here.

Reminder - Apply for the 2014 IDF Europe Prizes in Diabetes! IDF Europe will again be rewarding excellence, innovation and commitment in diabetes by presenting two prizes in the categories "Young Researcher" and "Long-Standing Achievement". Deadline for applications is 30 June. For further information, click here.

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies Summer School 2014: Re-thinking pharmaceutical policy - For detailed information on the programme and application form, click here. Deadline for applications is 9 June.