Europe initially failed to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously enough. But then the EU demonstrated its strengths, most notably by taking swift action to counter the economic recession.
COVID-19
Healthy Europe asked seven international health experts what they expect from the future after the pandemic is over: Austria’s Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein; Pierre Delsaux, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission; Marc Pearson and Francesca Columbo from the OECD; Mojca Gabrijelčič Blenkuš, President of EuroHealthNet; Lars Münter, Communications Lead of the Nordic Health 2030 Movement; and Amanda Janoo, Knowledge and Policy Lead of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance.
Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, in an interview on why Europe and the world were not prepared for a pandemic despite repeated warnings, and what we can learn from this for the future.
Children, adolescents and young adults have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Young Gasteiner Wiebke Seemann writes in her guest contribution.
Global health expert Ilona Kickbusch speaks in an interview about how different countries are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of the European Union, and why we need a worldwide agreement in order to be better prepared in the future.
Herwig Ostermann, Executive Director of Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, talks about scientific evidence as a basis for wide-reaching political decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the PHIRI project for improved knowledge transfer in Europe.
Slovenia’s health minister Janez Poklukar in an interview on what worked well in the response by the European Union and the Member States to the COVID-19 pandemic, and why better coordination will be necessary in future.
Colin Crouch in an interview on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, other global issues such as climate change and rising inequality, and how rebuilding a social Europe can contribute to mastering these challenges.
Imagine an economy that focuses on achieving population wellbeing and social justice instead of profit and mathematical growth. This may sound utopian, but some governments are already making progress.
Public health experts have been in the spotlight as never before since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the amount of available knowledge has seldom been so sparse.