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Eurocities | Mayors to EU: Help us fill our lungs with clean air

One study published last year by the European Public Health Alliance, based on data from 432 cities, shows that the average total cost from air pollution in a European city is 3.9% of lost GDP – around €1,000 lost for each citizen each year, leading to a lower standard of living. In Warsaw this rises significantly to around €2,500.

euractiv | Health Brief – Human rights violated, access to health neglected: Roma in ‘mental distress’

Mental health is an “under-represented issue, especially among Roma”, even though it is a “crucial aspect” of their well-being, explains Tomas de Jong, a policy assistant from the Roma Health Network at the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA).

euractiv | Cities aim to reduce car use in bid to eradicate air pollution

Non-exhaust particulate matter from brakes and tyres are less well-known than tailpipe particles but are similarly toxic, according to Matteo Barisione, a policy manager with the European Public Health Alliance.

POLITICO Pro | Morning Health Care: BTC proposal lands — Court news on Servier, EMA — Hepatitis mystery continues

AMR DRUG INCENTIVES LACKING: The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and the ReAct Europe network to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) this morning issued an urgent call for the European Commission to consider a wider range of options to incentivize drugmakers to develop novel antibiotics.

POLITICO Pro | Monkeypox threat forces EU to rip up vaccine rules to buy more, faster

This “would have allowed HERA to be more agile and effective during emergencies,” said Rosa Castro at the European Public Health Alliance. But, she cautioned, this needs to be coupled with “strong mechanisms to ensure transparency and periodic scrutiny.”

POLITICO Pro | Big Sugar makes last-ditch assault on EU labels

Nikolai Pushkarev, who specializes in food systems at the European Public Health Alliance, accused CEFS of trying to “pass the buck” by focusing on energy and diets in general instead of sugar.

POLITICO Pro | Morning Health Care: EU needs a HERA — Orbán gets Sinopharm — AZ for the elderly in Germany

Civil society: EPHA, meanwhile, envisions the agency as a completely autonomous body — “a purely public organisation with a clear public health mission, not to be conflated with areas of industrial policy,” Yannis Natsis wrote in a post. Natsis agrees the agency should be stuffed with lots of money and be willing to take on risk, but he wants its governance to include public health groups and the research community, so that the “affordability, availability, accessibility, socially responsible licensing and transparency conditions will be attached to the end products.”

POLITICO Pro | Morning Health Care: Michel defends — Rasi criticizes — Commission proposes

GUIDO RASI OPENS UP ON EMA: Almost four months since his departure, the EMA’s former chief Guido Rasi spoke candidly on Tuesday about his experiences at the agency — especially in the last year before he stepped down — in the midst of the pandemic. In a one-to-one interview with Yannis Natsis, policy manager for universal access and affordable medicines at the European Public Health Alliance, Rasi opened up for the first time since leaving the post.

POLITICO | Brussels Playbook: Parliament blackout — Vax export war of words — Pressure for press freedom

EX-EMA BOSS BLAMES EU NEGOTIATORS: Amid griping from various EU countries about the slow approvals, former EMA chief Guido Rasi called the Commission’s vaccine contracts “naive.” At a virtual gathering on Tuesday, Rasi accused Sandra Gallina, a top Commission official recruited to lead the EU’s negotiating team, and her counterparts from EU capitals, of not knowing how to deal with Big Pharma. “Everybody was put in the field without even knowing the rules of the game,” Rasi said. Helen Collis has more for POLITICO Health Pros.

the bmj | Covid-19: EU looks to speed up vaccine rollout

The European Public Health Alliance is pressing for three layers of transparency. Its policy manager, Yannis Natsis, says, “This means publishing the contracts with the minimum of redactions, the exchanges between the commission and pharmaceutical companies, and the internal communication between the commission and member states.”

euractiv | EU’s Kyriakides promises to reinstate grants for health NGOs in EU4Health programme

Four major health stakeholders – European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), European Patients’ Forum (EPF), Alzheimer Europe, and Eurordis (Rare Disease Europe) – combined forces under the hashtag #SaveEUHealthNGOs in an attempt to reinstate structural fundings in the new EU4Health programme. 

POLITICO | EU Influence: What media lobbyists want in EU tech rules — Health NGOs score a win on grants — Spotlight on Amazon’s contracts

NGO FUNDING: The European Commission has reversed a controversial decision to end operating grants for health-focused civil society groups, Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides announced this week. The decision to backtrack comes after months of campaigning from both health not-for-profits as well as MEPs who argued the move would reduce civil society groups’ ability to operate effectively, writes my colleague Carlo Martuscelli.

euractiv | Health NGOs ask Commission to reconsider “crucial aspects” of HERA

“The EU has a unique opportunity with HERA and other pieces of the European Health Union to lead global actions to address health emergencies”, EPHA told EURACTIV on behalf of all the NGOs. 

POLITICO Pro | Morning Agri and Food: The C in CAP — Warsaw pressures Woj — Flumioxazin

“HEALTH, FOOD GROUPS CALL FOR FOOD ADVERTISING RESTRICTIONS: Twenty European health, medical, consumer, child and family organizations called for the European institutions to adopt legislation that would protect children from “the widespread, ubiquitous and insidious marketing of nutritionally poor food.”

Verdict | “We have a volume of data that we’ve never experienced”: How big data is being utilised in public health

According to the European Public Health Alliance, AI has the potential to “improve screening, diagnoses and treatments across many medical disciplines and in many disease areas”, but all of this relies on data. The increasing presence of AI in public health has been driven by access to a greater volume and variety of data, combined with greater computing power.

POLITICO Pro | Morning Health Care: EU court judgment on transparency rules — what you need to know

More than 30 groups and researchers, including the European Public Health Alliance and Health Action International, signed a joint letter in December saying that Hogan focused too heavily on commercial interests. A stronger transparency policy is “fundamental to ensure patient safety and allowing public scrutiny … while enabling trust in and accountability of the regulator,” they argued.

POLITICO Pro | Morning Health Care: ENVI talks e-cigs, vice chairs — Pharma strategy for AMR fight — Glasgow hit with HIV ‘perfect storm

The groups, including the NCD Alliance, European Heart Network and the European Public Health Alliance, “urge that a thorough prevention pillar should be included in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan with special attention to tackling challenges common to all NCDs, and to initiate a process towards a wider EU strategic approach to the prevention of chronic diseases, including mental ill-health.”

Forbes | People Living In Polluted Cities May Be At Higher Risk From COVID-19