EU Global Health Strategy lacks ambition on climate change, says expert

(EurActiv, 1 Dec 2022) Giving climate change a more clear role in the EU Global Health Strategy is necessary to plan for future health threats, Alan Dangour, director of climate and health at the Wellcome Trust said.

The newly-proposed EU Global Health Strategy, presented by the EU executive on Wednesday (November 30), aims to boost the EU’s leadership role in global health policy by strengthening global health architecture and taking an integrated approach to the “global interconnectedness of health”.

At a Commission event following the announcement of the strategy, the Wellcome Trust’s Dangour praised the strategy at large, yet criticised the lack of focus on climate issues.

Despite the ‘One Health’ approach – the integration of human, animal and planetary health – at the centre of the proposal, Dangour questioned how the strategy could help Europe could prepare for the future without concrete reference to climate action.

“There are really, I’m afraid, substantial things that are potentially missing from this strategy, which is a much greater ability to plan for the future for something that we know is coming,” he told the room.

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EurActiv, 1 Dec 2022: EU Global Health Strategy lacks ambition on climate change, says expert