MEP AWARDS 2007

As a trained medic, Jolanta Dičkutė is no stranger to working in the health sector. She was the coordinator of last year's Written Declaration on Hepatitis C in the European Parliament. Her efforts to raise awareness of this increasing threat to public health centered on controlling the spread of Hepatitis C in Central and Eastern Europe. But her work is not limited to one disease and Dičkutė has fought to make all aspects of public health a key European priority. "The Community should make a priority of these areas where it can clearly demonstrate that it is able to change people's lives for the better, and health should be one of these," she said.

After practising as a doctor, Jolanta Dičkutė worked for the World Bank on a health project and later as a lecturer. Today she has turned her efforts to politics and she is a substitute for the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in the Parliament. She is also a member of the Committee on Culture and Education.

The Valencian MEP says he sees his position in the European Parliament as an opportunity to give a green voice to people right across Spain. As a member of both the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the Committee on Petitions, he has focused his efforts on increasing public participation in the political process and raising awareness of energy and industrial issues. This work has included promotion of renewable energies and has extended to studies of the toxic substances. Hammerstein Mintz has been particularly interested in the impact toxic chemicals have on women's health.

Last year Hammerstein Mintz attended the fourth World Water Forum in Mexico. The ministerial meeting called on the international community to reaffirm the critical importance of water for all aspects of sustainable development, including health. Hammerstein Mintz is set to become shadow rapporteur on a report on innovative medicines.

Born in Los Angeles, he studied sociology at the University of California and has worked for the Greens since 1999. He cites his principal personal interests as ecology and the ‘slow food’ movement.

Anna Hedh worked in nursing and healthcare before turning her attentions to politics. In the European Parliament she has focused her efforts on raising awareness of the dangers of alcohol abuse - particularly amongst young people. Her oral questions to Parliament have brought attention to worrying health trends that indicate young people are drinking alcohol at earlier and earlier ages. One death in four in the 15-29 age group in Europe is due to alcohol-related road accidents, poisonings, suicides and murders, according to statistics supplied by the WHO, she told Parliament last year. Hedh believes the EU has a responsibility to respond to these trends by addressing the root social causes. Earlier this year she took part in the EU Alcohol Strategy Seminar that aims to reduce alcohol-related harm.

Hedh is a member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and the Palestinian Legislative Council Delegation. She is also a substitute member of the Women's Rights Committee. She became an MEP in 2004.