Parliament demands bigger budget for public health programme
The European Parliament's Environment committee is demanding that the funding for the implementation of the Community's public health programme be increased to 500 million euro from the 300 million euro proposed by the Commission for the period 2001 to 2006. The committee supported the view of Greek MEP and rapporteur Antonios Trakatellis that 300 million euro was insufficient to meet the programme's ambitious objectives. The committee also called for special support to be given to measures dealing with major health issues and issues such as cardiovascular diseases, neuropsychiatric disorders, cancer, unintentional injuries, infant and child health, women's health, degenerative diseases of the nervous system associated with ageing, respiratory diseases, diabetes and diseases such as HIV/AIDS.