EUREGHA (European Regional and Local Health Authorities) is a pan-European network of regional and local health authorities, linking citizens, national and European institutions. It aims to ensure that local and regional aspects are reflected in national and European health policies. It ensures joint action through advocacy, policy monitoring, promotion, partnership building and project development tools.

The EUREGHA Annual General Assembly took place this year in Venice on 22-23 May with the participation of CESCI. The current tasks of CESCI in the health sector (the inter-ministerial working group on health, the Hungarian-Austrian framework ambulance agreement) are particularly relevant to the other euroregions’ experience on the field of health cooperation and health development projects.

On the first day of the event, participants were given an insight into the most modern primary and emergency care system in the impressive building of the Dell’Angelo Hospital, the central hospital of Veneto region. Presentations by the directors of the specialised clinics introduced the digital systems for prevention, the targeted intervention strategies based on statistics on the differentiation of cancer cases by sex, age and type, the practice of eye transplantation, which has become a market leader operation, and the tourism development projects with social focus. The presentations covered the system of cooperation between the different specialised services and regions, their experiences and their successful joint project development. In the Scuola Grande di San Marco, the Venetian Museum of Medicine, which is still operating as a hospital, participants were able to discover the medical legacy of Venice dating back to the 13th century and to consult a collection of books on health science. Venice’s role in combating devastating and deadly epidemics was highlighted, as the city maintained its central commercial role through the development of defence strategies and institutions, even during the plague epidemic that killed half of the population of Europe. The economic impact of epidemics was even more devastating then than it was during COVID.

On the second day of the event, the new members of the network were introduced: the Spanish Basque Country, the Norwegian County of Buskerud, the Danish City of Aarhus, the Romanian IMAGO-MOL cluster and the University of Applied Sciences of Vaasa from Finland. In addition to their admission, the assembly decided to approve the annual budget and elect new officials. In addition to the current work plan, the draft budgets for the coming years were discussed, as well as common strategic directions and objectives.