Building on the EU’s responses to Covid-19 through vaccination on its territory and in low- and middle-income third countries, and taking into account the commitment of the EU and its Member States to the conclusion of a binding international WHO treaty on the prevention and management of future pandemics in 2024, the French Presidency of the Council intends to update the EU’s global health strategy, which dates back to 2010.
EU Health Ministers will therefore be invited to an exchange of views on this issue on 14 June to define their priorities and ways to strengthen ‘our coordination and influence on global health’.
The theme of this exchange was validated by the EU27 ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday 1 June, along with a ‘framework note’ from the Presidency.
“From the outset of the pandemic, the EU defended a strong multilateral response and supported the WHO’s leading role in coordinating the response to health emergencies”, the French Presidency was pleased to report, reviewing the history of the EU’s support from the Rome Global Health Summit (see EUROPE 12724/5, 12687/8), the support for the production of mRNA vaccines in Africa (see EUROPE 12918/30, 12894/1), up to the ongoing negotiation of an international agreement on pandemics, which would give the WHO executive powers (see EUROPE 12921/16), and the prior amendment of the 2005 International Health Regulations.
At the 75th World Health Assembly at the end of May, the EU and its Member States supported the amendments proposed by the US, but a majority of countries, including South Africa, China, Russia and Brazil, expressed concerns about a possible loss of sovereignty.
The French Presidency note highlights that on 19 May, at the G7 Health meeting, European Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and her colleague for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, “officially announced the launch of work on the revision of the EU Global Health Strategy” with a joint statement (see EUROPE 12956/22).
Among the profound changes that have taken place since 2010 and which, in its view, justify this update, the Presidency cites “the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the [UN] Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Climate Agreement, the Covid-19 pandemic, the return of war to the European continent, as well as the emergence of new zoonoses”.
In this respect, it refers already to monkeypox, the first cases of which have occurred in Western countries - only in Europe and the United States.
The Presidency states that “in a context of increased interdependence between human, animal and environmental interfaces, climate and digital transitions, the ‘One Health’ approach will be at the heart of the revised strategy”.
The note: https://aeur.eu/f/1wb (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)