[Toward a European health reporting system--starting points and developmental perspectives]

This article first offers a brief introduction to the development of the EC health policy mandate from a competence restricted to health protection at the working place to a wider competence embracing health promotion and disease prevention, albeit still based on the principle of self-responsibility of the Member states. Possible focal points of health reporting within the EC framework are worked out on the basis of suggestions made by the EC commission in respect of priority areas of EC activities in the public health sphere and the commission's own priority criteria. It is then examined whether and to what extent the presently available health databases (especially of WHO and OECD) would cover these requirements. As a result, it is argued, that there is no getting around setting up an own health reporting system that would promote and support the development of an EC public health policy. An important task of such health reporting will be to supply users not only with data but also with adequate knowledge on how to interpret them, in view of the multitude of problems involved in bringing the various national health data under one roof; this cannot be achieved either at short notice or on a medium-term basis. Finally, a few alternatives are given in respect of possible organisational structures of EC health reporting, pointing out decision criteria and practical conditions which would be essential of assessing the usefulness of such organisational setups.