At the 2018 CHES Annual Lecture, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis gave an update on the ‘State of Health in the EU’ initiative, the two-year cycle undertaken by the European Commission in collaboration with the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies to assess EU member states’ healthcare systems. His keynote speech was followed by a panel discussion involving the main stakeholders in the debate.

Speakers also included: Hans Martens, Chair of CHES and Senior Adviser to the EPC on public service reform, Nicola Bedlington, Secretary General, European Patients’ Forum (EPF), Pedro Facon, Director-General for Healthcare, Belgian Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Francesca Colombo, Head of Health Division, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Josep Figueras, Director, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Sylvain Giraud, Head of Unit, Performance of national health systems, DG for Health and Food Safety, European Commission.