Council backs plans to combat communicable diseases
Ministers at the General Affairs Council have backed the Commission's five-year action plan enlisting trade, development and research measures to tackle communicable diseases including HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The plan, which stresses prevention, aims to increase the impact of EU action against communicable diseases by concentrating on approaches which have already proved to be effective. 'These include measures to make key drugs more affordable for developing countries, in particular by encouraging tiered pricing,' reports the Commission. The strategy also aims to encourage more investment in research to boost ongoing work on building effective health systems and calls for the complete opening up of EU procurement for drugs to combat these diseases.