ABSTRACT
Responsibility for financing and operating health systems has traditionally been the prerogative of each individual country in the European Community. This chapter gives an overview of a number of Community policies and priorities with an impact in the health field. It focuses particularly on the Community's activities in the field of public health, which are based on Article 129 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. Before looking at the development of health-related policy at Community level and at the specific activities and priorities in the field of public health, the chapter gives a short description of the decision-making process in the Community and of the structures at Community level relating to health. A decision creating a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the European Community was adopted by the European Parliament and Council in July 1998.
