Dear all,

Like every month, discover our press review on global health, available as usual by clicking on this link: https://www.scoop.it/topic/sante-mondiale.

On the occasion of the publication of our latest policy note on the French-German axis of global health (which you can read here), we have decided to make Europe the central theme of this press review. As you know, health is traditionally the responsibility of the Member States, but the Covid crisis could change this state of affairs. What are the challenges at European level and what would be the new prerogatives for the European Union in the field of health? The articles and links that we have selected for you at this end of the year should give you a clearer and more global vision of these issues, which are sometimes very technical.

First, you will find in this selection several links on European health issues. In particular, you will be able to discover the latest OECD study on the health of Europeans or a reflection on the European challenges of access to medicines with an analysis of Europe’s place in the world pharmaceutical market.

On the subject of the famous “Europe of health”, which is much talked about at the moment, several articles look back at the common mechanisms or initiatives already existing in the field of health at European level, and the recent proposals of the European Commission. We have selected for you several reflections related to these issues, from French, but also Dutch, English or German researchers, with for example a note by Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Franz calling for the development of a real European strategy for global health. Several articles also return to the issues at stake during the German presidency of the Council of the European Union (which will end in a few days, at the end of December), and in the continuity of which the upcoming French presidency of the EU, in the first half of 2022, is expected to follow.

We propose a specific focus on Germany, a European country particularly involved in the field of global health. This press review is both an opportunity to (re)review the Treaty of Aachen, signed in January 2019 to strengthen cooperation between France and Germany, but also to look back on the latest edition of the World Health Summit, the annual French-German health conference, or to discover the brand new German global health strategy.

We also looked at the issue of health aid from European countries, whether it was to take stock of the achievement of the commitment of 0.7% of GNI devoted to development aid by European countries (“Aidwatch 2020” study by the European platform CONCORD) or to understand the priorities and funding circuits of the top ten European countries contributing to development aid (Graduate Institute).

Finally, we offer a selection of articles and links both on the dynamics of the Covid epidemic in Europe (with the interactive maps of the WHO and the ECDC) and on the response of the Member States, with the “Health System response monitor” which centralises information on how the different European countries have responded to the crisis. Particularly attentive to health democracy issues, the launch of a European Citizens’ Initiative (“Right to cure”) on access to health products for European citizens also caught our attention this month.

We hope that this selection, which, as every month, brings together press and scientific articles, will give you a clearer view of global health issues…

Download the list of articles selected for the newsletter of December 2020.