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The new EU global health strategy, adopted by the European Commission on 30 November 2022, has been positioned as a crucial element of EU external policy, geopolitical influence and strategic autonomy. However, maintaining the long term commitment necessary for achieving global health ambitions in turbulent times remains challenging. Against this backdrop, in 2023 the Policy Foresight Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service conducted a foresight exercise involving external experts to ...

Nearly 400 million children around the world are projected to live with obesity by 2035. Worryingly, that is double the number in 2020. 'Our children are increasingly growing up in environments that make it very difficult for them to eat well and be active. This is a root cause of the obesity epidemic', argued Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, Regional Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe. Worryingly, child obesity often carries through to adolescence and is likely to endure into adulthood ...

During its February II session, the European Parliament is expected to vote its first-reading position on two legislative proposals: a draft recast regulation on the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) and a draft regulation on the unitary SPC, both concerning medicinal products. These parallel proposals are part of a broader package on improving intellectual property rights.

Global challenges – including climate change, geopolitical conflict, erosion of democratic principles and social inequalities – affect people's daily lives and future prospects. A collective European response over the next 10 years could help to address these challenges – and offer benefits worth up to €3 trillion a year. This represents around 18 % of EU gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to €6 700 per citizen every year. Referring to the European Parliament's work during the 2019-2024 term ...

In February 2023, the Commission put forward a proposal for a directive aimed at revising the existing limit values for lead, and introducing, for the first time, limit values for diisocyanates, aimed at achieving a high level of protection of workers' health and safety. On 14 November 2023, the co-legislators reached a provisional agreement on the proposal. The agreed text, which requires formal adoption by both institutions, is expected to be put to a plenary vote in February.

As part of its fight against harmful substances, on 13 February 2023 the Commission tabled a proposal for a directive aimed at protecting workers' health by lowering occupational exposure to lead and diisocyanates. The proposed directive would set, for the first time, occupational limit values for diisocyanates, while revising the limit values for lead for the first time in more than 40 years. It would also include a review mechanism to guarantee regular revisions from now on to make sure that those ...

Public health

EU Fact Sheets 16-01-2024

Public health policy has recently taken centre stage in EU policymaking with the COVID-19 pandemic, Parliament’s making cancer one of its areas of focus, and the push towards a stronger European Health Union. The European Health Union initiative addresses immediate and future health concerns, including the COVID-19 crisis, building resilience against cross-border health threats, implementing the Beating Cancer Plan, advancing the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, and enhancing digital health.

Medicines and Medical Devices

EU Fact Sheets 15-01-2024

Medicines and medical devices are subject to the rules of the single market and have a direct impact on people’s health. A robust legal framework is in place to protect public health and guarantee the safety of these products. Access to affordable medicines, the fight against antimicrobial resistance, the ethical conduct of clinical trials, the use of artificial intelligence in medical devices and incentives to research and development are just some of the key issues the EU deals with in this field ...

Plants in good health are essential to the European Union's economy and society and are therefore regulated at EU level. Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 (the 'Plant Health Regulation') provides early-stage measures to prevent pests from entering the EU, or to eradicate them immediately if found present on EU territory, thus ensuring a uniform level of phytosanitary protection within the EU territory. The regulation also seeks to level the playing field for EU producers and traders in plant and plant products ...

Air and noise pollution

EU Fact Sheets 09-01-2024

Air pollution is the largest environmental health risk in Europe. The 2013 EU air quality strategy aimed to achieve full compliance with existing air quality legislation by 2020 and set long-term objectives for 2030. The EU also aims to further improve air quality by revising the Ambient Air Quality Directives. The 2002 Environmental Noise Directive helps to identify noise levels in the EU and to take measures to reduce them to acceptable levels. Separate legislation regulates noise pollution from ...