X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Working together to protect your health
The Council of Europe's Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Division carries out co-operation projects to strengthen inclusion and address discrimination and inequality that undermine the enjoyment of human rights and democracy by everyone. The projects offer concrete and tested solutions to governmental and non-governmental partners in member States to protect and promote the European Convention on Human Rights and relevant Council of Europe standards.
Health is our most precious gift — and a top concern for all Europeans.
For the Council of Europe, health is also a fundamental human right, protected by our two main human rights treaties: the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter. This right belongs to everyone across our 46 member states, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, disability, ethnic or national origin, race, religion, language, income, or background.
Rising inequalities, demographic shifts, environmental degradation, and rapid growth of digital health technologies put health care and social protection systems to the test. In this challenging environment, the Council of Europe is intensifying its efforts to protect health and to defend the human rights that depend on it.
Now more than ever, health care is about trust, safety and access — and this calls for a holistic approach.
As part of our response, the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence requires states to consider the impact of AI throughout its entire lifecycle, ensuring that innovation never comes at the cost of people’s health.
That is why the Council of Europe addresses health challenges on multiple fronts: from tackling the spread of falsified medical products and countering organ trafficking, to setting binding quality standards for the medicines we take and the care we receive, to ensuring access to health protection and investing in projects that bring care closer to those who need it most.
We support states in protecting wildlife, ecosystems and landscapes because a healthy environment plays a vital role in people’s physical and mental health.
As this year’s World Health Day focuses on mothers and babies, let us remember that the right to health is not a privilege for the few, but a responsibility for all of us.
On this day, and every day, let us reaffirm that equitable, high-quality health care is essential to a healthy democracy — a democracy we must protect together.
Message from Alain Berset,
Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Follow us on
Health protection is a human right
Access to healthcare is a fundamental human right, yet challenges such as medical dis-crimination, fake medicines, and healthcare inequalities persist across Europe. The Council of Europe plays a crucial role in promoting equitable, high-quality healthcare through legal frameworks, treaties, and policy initiatives.
Equitable access to healthcare
We've worked with governments to promote the principle of health care for all, backed projects to make health care affordable and to restore hospitals and health care centres.
During the Covid pandemic we pushed to make sure that access to medicine was continuous, equitable and that procurement of medical supplies was safe from corruption.
And thanks to judgments by the European Court of Human Rights, negligence or abuse has been called out, changing the situation of many vulnerable groups.
Quality and safety of medicines and healthcare
The Council of Europe is putting human rights to the fore in its work to build effective and efficient healthcare.
Thanks to its work, no-one needs to worry about the quality and safety of the medicines we take, the cosmetics we use and even the safety of some of the everyday objects around us.
Whether it’s a lifesaving organ transplant or a blood transfusion, quality and safety requirements protect donors and recipients.
Health protection: A right for everyone
Women and men should be treated equally, whatever their age or background, and together with LGBTI people all over Europe, should get the highest possible standards of health care.
Children have the right to be involved in decisions about their own health care and young people should be supported in their mental health struggles.
People with drug and addiction problems, prisoners, people held in police custody and residents of psychiatric homes should have access to medical care and have their rights respected.