On Thursday, 1 December 2022, the European Commission published its EU Global Health Strategy to set a vision for health financing and strengthen international cooperation.
“This is a strategy which is rooted in equity. It’s rooted in solidarity, in human rights and in partnership. But what really fuels it is our determination to strengthen good global governance,” said European Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.
A smiling World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted his support for the EU’s health strategy and calls for global cooperation, “Each of these challenges transcends borders, sectors, languages, ethnicities and political divides. No single country or organization can deal with them in isolation. Which is why multilateralism is more important than ever.”
This strategy seems to emphasize the “one health principle” at the global level. This means developing more robust health systems and collaborating with countries worldwide to ultimately achieve international relief from pandemic threats.
“Better detection of threats, more equitable access to vaccines and treatments, and more robust global governance to guarantee results. Today we’ve adopted a new EU Global Health Strategy to improve global health security and deliver better health for all.” European Commission tweeted on 30 November 2022.
According to Urpilainen, the main goal of increasing investment in health systems with modern financial instruments is to tackle health inequalities and to advance universal health coverage so that countries such as Africa still Import 99% of their vaccines and 94%. of their medicines. Be able to produce at least 60% of vaccines for the continent by 2040.
Based on a growing array of financing, €53.7 billion to help 140 countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems the EU wants a more significant say in decisions with its latest health strategy. “The main message of this strategy is that the EU intends to reassert its responsibility and deepen its leadership in the interest of the highest attainable standards of health,” the strategy states.
To promote the use of new technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment globally, in line with the principles of the EU-planned European Health Data Space. EU is using the potential of digital health data, including artificial intelligence, with the core intention of making Global health a key focus.
Piotr Kolczynski, Oxfam EU’s health expert, hopes that the new strategy will be implemented effectively and that the world will soon see the results. He said, “We have seen the EU, again and again, put Big Pharma and trade interests above people’s health. This new EU Global Health Strategy is an opportunity to set the EU on the right course and bring us closer to a world where everyone has access to healthcare and treatment. But to do so, it needs to be more than just a slogan.”
So, according to sources, the Council of European Union countries will publish its findings on the strategy in the first half of 2023.
