Navigating the European Commission’s Global Health Strategy – Opportunities and Challenges for Researchers
Dive into the heart of global health research with a comprehensive exploration of the European Commission’s new Global Health Strategy, unveiled in early 2023. This groundbreaking session is designed to enlighten researchers from both EU and non-EU countries about the immense opportunities within the strategic framework and to foster discussions on translating the strategy into tangible funding for global health research.
🔍 Key Highlights:
European Commission’s Vision: Understand the vision outlined in the new Global Health Strategy, providing a crucial framework for European investment in global health research.
Opportunities for Researchers: Explore the myriad opportunities available for researchers within the EU and beyond, aligning with the strategic goals of the Global Health Strategy.
Translating Strategy into Funding: Engage in discussions on how the Global Health Strategy can be effectively translated into funding avenues for global health research initiatives.
Identifying and Addressing Gaps: Delve into the gaps that still exist and need addressing within the strategy, fostering a collaborative conversation on shaping the future of global health research.
🌐 Session Objectives:
Informing Researchers: Provide crucial insights to researchers about the European Commission’s new Global Health Strategy and its implications for global health research.
Opportunity Discussion: Foster dialogue on how researchers can seize the opportunities presented by the strategy for impactful global health research.
Translation to Funding: Discuss practical strategies for translating the strategic vision into tangible funding for research initiatives.
Addressing Remaining Gaps: Identify and deliberate on the gaps that persist within the strategy, aiming for collaborative solutions to further enhance its effectiveness.
🗣 Why Watch?
For researchers, policymakers, and global health enthusiasts alike, this session serves as a beacon to navigate the intricate landscape of the European Commission’s Global Health Strategy. Be part of the conversation that shapes the future of global health research, unlocking opportunities, addressing challenges, and contributing to the strategic vision for a healthier, more equitable world.
📺 Watch Now and Stay Informed on Global Health Research Opportunities!
#GlobalHealthStrategy #ResearchOpportunities #EuropeanCommission #GlobalHealthResearch 🌐🔬
Good morning everyone welcome uh to this session entitled the new EU Global Health strategy opportunities for research thank you for being here and sorry because we are fashionably late it’s the early morning session uh my name is Antony Placencia I’m the director of the Barcelona Institute for Global health is global
And one of the uh which is one of the founding uh institutions of Aging which I’ll explain in a minute uh and I’ll be co-chairing together with Professor Anna vasal uh executive director of the Amsterdam Institute for Global health and development also a founding institution of eging and we are very
Pleased to have a distinguished uh panel of uh uh group of panelists uh uh my co-chair will introduce them a little bit later and uh before uh introducing our guest speaker uh let me just uh in a nutshell explain why we are setting this session and and why is egin involved
Egin stands for the European Global health research institute uh European Global health research institute network uh it was created uh in 2018 uh as a new network of leading Global health research institutions in Europe all concerned about uh the profile uh of global Health in the European space but
Of course related with the rest of the world and with our our Partnerships uh in in the global South and with the main objective of on the one hand having an advocacy role to uh bring the vision and the commitment to Global Health uh to the EU commission uh
But also to member states so that’s largely in the background of today’s session but also to promote greater interactions uh in research and in education uh between our institutions which is also happen in these years H so those of you who are interested the uh
You can uh look for us at the web .eu the Secretariat is at uh the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health we have an elected board I’m the chair of the elected board currently and get today here uh uh Alberto rura if you say hello Alberto rura uh heads the
Secretariat and provide you information let me thank also uh professor Frank coalin uh U from the Amsterdam Institute former director and a colleague at the board uh of egin for uh setting helping set uh this session uh and also to Joyce Brown from the organizing committee who
Has been really helpful in in setting this before I introduce the speaker uh let me just uh uh put an additional additional information on the on the context of this meeting about a year ago actually I was just checking I think it was uh uh late November uh last year the
Commission presented its uh Global Health strategy and basically the message was we have understood that health is something that goes beyond white gowns and hospitals and medications we have understood that health is a is a geopolitical challenge and therefore it’s important that the uh the European space has a specific
Strategy to uh strengthen the commitment towards Equity that’s at the core of course of global health and uh and uh towards uh knowledge towards research towards education and towards Health Systems uh uh response so definitely that uh has been uh uh it it’s been a
Year since then and and uh so now today it’s a good opportunity to see where we stand and specifically in the setting of this conference to look at what opportunities what challenges do we have uh uh does the the the global the EU Global Health strategy provide uh to uh
To um uh for the future and to our institutions and to our networks let me say that some European countries have been doing their homework uh in terms of developing um their National Global Health strategy this is the case for Germany it’s the recent case also uh for
The Netherlands and for France I have to say for the case of Spain due to the political uh elections uh this was uh temporarily stopped but hopefully there will be soon enough uh a global Health National Global Health strategy presented so without further Ado let me
Just uh introduce uh our um um um sketch notter uh or note Sketcher I don’t know uh jessame uh she I think will bring an additional Dimension to to our uh meeting here today to our interaction uh trying to uh go faster than our words especially trying to help us understand
Some of the concepts that uh will be shared and will be discussed uh because uh as we say often say an image is worth uh a thousand words so hopefully this will add a new dimension to this uh to to this interaction so without further Ado uh
Let me introduce Dr Yan paer uh he is a policy officer in the EU commission uh director general for research and Innovation uh he’s a a physician with with a doctorate in uh in cardiology and a a masters in Health Systems management he has had an extensive experience
Working in Africa both in clinical work but also in other in other activities in African countries and also in Europe doing consultancy in areas of Public Health and and Global Health including uh Germany so without further Ado uh uh Mr Jan paler please Dr Jan pal please if
You can come to the stand thank you thank you yeah thanks a lot anony for the very kind introduction and also to fun and Anna for organizing this session the ACT me for this wonderful conference and uh UT for hosting us uh here so gently and
Kindly yeah I’m very pleased to um uh uh talk about global health and uh notably the global Health strategy that has been adopted and um it it it already goes until back to November 2022 when it was uh adopted in the presence of the uh director general of
The of The Who and the two Commissioners for health and for International Development and um it is a review of the previous Global Health strategy that dates back to 2010 and uh updates of course all the uh developments that have taken place uh since then um it was developed based on
An extensive consultation process both within Europe but also worldwide involving different stakeholders and different venues for for inputting it clearly uh is in support of the sustainable development goal and part of the key EU policies both the global gateway for partnering with key partner countries uh and doing things
Jointly um and the external dimension of the European health union which of course was heavily strengthened in the last four years since the pandemic hit it’s based on a health in all policies approach so that it goes beyond clearly just the health policy and it outlines it’s a proposal and a commitment from
The European commission what can be done on behalf of of of all of us in Europe um but of course we’re still waiting for an endorsement of the of the member states of the 27 member states to um to also complement this strategy what they
Will commit to um in in line of this of this um strategy so um the the the strategy has three key priorities and they are mainly um yeah taken cognizance of the fact that as far as the sustainable development goals are concerned we haven’t made the progress that we have
Set ourselves to do that of course has has a uh explanation through the setback by the pandemic but still uh collectively we have only uh achieved a quarter of what is needed until 2030 there is still time to do but uh this needs to be reinforced so these three
Objectives which are also in line with the strategy goals by the wh first uh Better Health in well-being um by uh uh regaining the Lost ground on the on the SGS promoting drivers of good health so not only treatment addressing the root causes of ill health and uh particular attention to women
Girls and people in vulnerable situations the second one is advancing universal health coverage and health coverage is of course UHC is is a subgoal of the of the sdgs and very close to the to the hearts of European countries which all operate different Health Systems but are based on common
Values uh to have a universal access to good Quality Health Care and that goal that was also underlying the previous Global health communication and the main input of European countries to the to the to the sdg process uh of course need updates so we need more Equitable primary primary health care System we
Need better capacity to meet Health Emergency needs and leveraging the digitalization and the research which also uh requires Improvement and addressing work balance uh Workforce imbalance both within Europe and between Europe and the world and the third objective of course is based on the on the Lessons Learned on the painful
Lessons Learned uh of the pandemic so the EU is pushing for new international rules and Global surveillance systems a permanent platform for development and distribution of vaccines um doing a one health approach so broader than just um human health and also addressing antimicrobial resistance the strategy is based on 20
Key principles that are outlined but are also makes a list of concrete actions to which the commission um is uh committing itself so they go from uh setting up an integrated surveillance me mechanism through the least the established new commission Department Hera the health emergency and response agency um then
Also um development of uh Innovative medical counter measures also to address antimicrobial resistance and ensure that uh access is uh Universal then support gavy in the vaccine the vaccine Alliance in vaccine uptake and Supply chains roll out the covid-19 vaccines to undervaccinated populations and countries which was uh most of the
Activity in 22 and 23 uh in relation to that a team Europe initiative together with member states have been established to um to to to to support countries but particularly in Africa to boost their manufacturing capacity for medicines and other medical products research uh into um uh vaccines and
Other um will be for emerging infectious diseases will be supported through the Coalition for epidemics preparedness Innovations sepi there will be contributions to the unfp supplies partnership or to address female sexual reproductive health and rights contributions to the global funds to fight AIDS tuberculosis and malaria and
The w or Universal Health Coverage with the with the European Union um the new pandemic fund has been set up and will be funded as well as programs for training recruiting healthcare workers an EU Latin America and Caribbean partnership on health security and Supply chains and last but not least the
Support to the third iteration of the global Health edctp 3 uh collaboration with Africa on on clinical trials so on implementation um the uh key part is of course the the bilateral policy dialogue and uh work with uh partner countries and here uh the the program has uh broadened uh particularly
Involvement of Health not least uh through the um uh experience from the from the pandemic so 48 countries uh um uh have a specific health program and collaboration and policy dialogue with the with the with the EU was 1 point3 billion uh Euros for the seven years
From 21 to 27 and 900 million of that and most of the countries are uh going or part of the partnership with with Africa um while the single country receiving most of the funding is turkey to support their uh Health infrastructure as they host uh a lot of
Refugees uh uh particular from Syria and the and the Middle East on the regional uh aspect um there has been now an EU Au partnership developed on particularly for for health this is new that there is a regional program between the EU and the African
Union and U it is part of the global gateway and has four flagships the one um I already talked about was the the roll out and the support to to covid vaccination um and related to that the uh Flagship to support local manufacturing and access to key Medical
Products including vaccines uh which is part of the longer term collaboration with the Africa Union and its member states and the new Public Health order in Africa and the n and um uh institutions of the Au the Africa CDC and the Africa medicines agency linked to that there are also team Europe
Initiatives so not only the EU uh but also bilateral programs by the by the member states coming together to strengthen health systems public health institutes and pandemic preparedness and the digital agenda and uh particularly to to to um respect commitments from the EU the African Union and the regional uh
Economic committees on uh srhr there is a flagship to enable the environment for sexual and reproductive health and and rights and then the global initiatives of course feature strongly so there have been uh great uh commitments to the global fund uh 750 million from the EU for uh the the current threeyear cycle
From 23 to 25 uh it’s a lot of money in absolute terms but only 4% of what the global fund generally attracts from all donors so the EU and the member states together account for 40% of the 4 to5 billion US doar that the global fund spends every
Every year for gar the contribution was 300 million for the current cycle for un FBA supplies SP partnership for uh life saving um medicines maternal Health medicines and Family Planning um is 45 million and the UHC partnership with the wh strengthening the role of the wh in
The partner countries so that they can advise governments um to uh to strengthen their health system the the contribution there now total is 272 from the from the EU and last but not least the pandemic fund which has been set up uh in response to the pandemic to help countries prepare
Better prepare for the next pandemic is U heavily financed by the by the EU notably by the commission uh more than 400 million Euros are coming uh to to to this initial fund so that’s about the the general health programs but now to research um there uh of course also so with Africa
There has been uh a strengthened policy dialogue between the the the the unions of Europe and uh Africa and also the member states uh where highlevel uh policy dialogue between the Ministries uh responsible for research are undergoing and an innovation agenda has been agreed um which has uh Public
Health as one of four key uh priorities and um four objectives are to make it real so to translate the Innovative capacities into tangable outputs generate impact by Design to strengthen Innovation ecosystems and then strengthen people communities and institutions and learn and monitor and
Scale it up so it is uh high on the political agenda and uh on to collaborate more on Innovation but between the two continents and health features strongly and one Landmark uh action uh of course is the edctp the European developing countries clinical trials partnership that celebrated its
20th anniversary beginning of the month in Paris and uh it is uh the um uh third iteration of what started 20 years ago and has broadened both the membership uh of the partner countries who are um working namely 15 countries in Europe 27 countries in in Africa to
Collaborate on on on clinical trials and while initially the budget was smaller 400 million for the first iteration as a as a uh yeah as a budget the um and and the focus on HIV tuberculosis uh and malaria the scope has broadened the membership has broadened um and the
Budgets have have broadened as well so that we come now to a budget of at least uh 1.6 billion EUR where half of the money is coming from the EU but depends on contributions from the countries of that partnership both in Africa and Europe to contribute 400 million and other contributing Partners like
Foundations industry other major funders to to to match the the EU contribution and uh here you see the the partnership so in Europe it’s 15 countries and in Africa it’s 27 but the membership is is growing very quickly as you see the uh countries in orange or in
Bold in the text that have only recently joined the partnership so we um expect additional countries to to to come on board and benefit from this uh partnership and as far as the research uh scope is concerned the focus is on clinical research but um all the activities that enable clinical research
Are included so both capacity building at individual level so fellowships for senior and for junior researchers uh support to regulatory strengthening capacity building and uh um networking uh whether institutionalized as network of Excellence or the networking uh in in in in projects and the diseases are mainly
Infectious diseases but um and our Now new Focus under edctp 3 includes antimicrobial resistant and the climate climate crisis related um diseases um the uh activity so far under the new Global Health edctp that just started uh last year so two calls have been um finalized to a budget of 230
Million um 103 million have already been committed for 27 projects and of those 19 grants are actually uh research and Innovation projects including clinical trials and other clinical research and 7.6 million in grants are supporting the coordination the strengthening of institutional capacities and fellowships for for individuals so that’s the the edctp 3
That is uh a collaboration between Europe and Africa but there is the broader health program for research Horizon Europe which is um open to the to the world so we have um research topics on various themes including a large proportion to to to health and this research is meant to stimulate
Collaborative research across borders in Europe and with Europe worldwide so all the research um projects can be um also uh involved um participants from around the world and many countries are also eligible for for fing and individual researchers can always apply for fellowships or individual grants and are
Are eligible for for funding so um the easiest way of course to to see whether you’re eligible for funding is whether you live in a country that is associated to the program because of its attractiveness and increasing numbers have uh uh Associated themselves to the to the European research framework
Program mainly from Europe but also Israel New Zealand Tunisia turkey Ukraine and Morocco and Canada are currently discussion under discussion but irrespective of whether Associated or not uh researchers from uh countries from almost all low and lower middle income countries are eligible for funding and there is a specific list
That lists all these all countries so meaning um participants from low and low Minal income can participate in all the research proposals and projects and will receive uh funding from the from the program so how is that operationalized so there isn’t or there can be uh specific calls internationally but the
General um approach is uh uh general research topics which can um also involve uh a remark that this is particularly um uh suited for international cooporation so in the topic texts of the call you may see um flagging of C call topics that are specifically relevant and it can also be
Um included as a specific eligibility uh condition and uh if we look at the uh latest work program for 3 to 24 you see that for health and there you also see the many other topics that the research framework program supports uh you have 53 topics for health and of those seven are
Particularly suggested for for international corporation which is 16% but that doesn’t mean that the other projects cannot also include uh participants from the uh from the from around the world so that’s it thank you very much and here I’ve also listed a few websites for more in information thank
You thank you very much uh we have a few minutes for burning questions for clarification otherwise uh Dr paler will join the the uh um the panel so he’ll have a chance to also address any questions I don’t see any hands raised yes here and there can you down there the
Microphone to the ladies who will take these two questions and thank you for answering thanks yeah good morning thank you um I have a question about the first part where you gave an outline of all the money that has been uh granted to these different African countries um could you
Say something about the strings attached what is expected from these African countries in return for example the countries in the Sahel region I didn’t hear you very well I have a question about what are the strings attached for all these money that is given to these African countries
Does the European Union um for example demand that the countries in the sahal region do something about the migration routes or for example like countries like Tunisia or turkey that they um host a lot of refugees that we don’t have to do that for example could you say
Something about that uh yes so um the the the the programs that I was uh presenting here are bilateral programs with each country and they are based on a pol policy dialogue with those those countries and of course health will be a major part but um the overall uh
Discussion includes everything so um so for example with the uh agreement with with turkey that was clearly part of a bilateral agreement to then to to recognize the uh enormous burden that uh refugees are are placing on the on the health system in turkey that there was
Uh an an agreement between turkey and the EU that uh the EU would contribute also funding to that and it’s part of a broader policy dialogue so yes so um but strings attached uh well it depends on these on these agreements but in general terms uh there there are none for the
For the for the health program thank you second question and then we’ll move to the panel yes uh thank you for this uh informative presentation um I uh was interested in the climate crisis related infectious diseases which you mentioned was a great Focus which is very promising um I was wondering what the
Proportion is of funding and research capacity building um for non-communicable diseases that are related to The Climate crisis like air pollution related disease but also mental health I was wondering if there is there anything you can say about that yes so well this part um focused on the on the
Edctp part and there the focus has always been on infectious diseases and now uh of course uh it it is possible to also research to include research on the on the fringes and the crisis related uh diseases are there also if there are comorbidities and so forth um but the
Decision has been mainly made to to maintain the focus mainly on infectious diseases for edctp mainly for practical reasons because the resources are are limited and this is where the the um the specific uh um focus has always been but that that doesn’t mean uh that the other
Uh areas have to have to be neglected and they would then mainly be addressed through the broader Horizon Europe program where these uh ncds uh are addressed with uh Proviso that International collaboration would be uh encouraged so it would it is a overall priority but would be a mix of
Instruments how that would be pursued thank you very much so uh Professor vasal if you can join us and together with the panel and we’ll see there I don’t know if it can hear me yeah maybe they can come can you hear me there um and if all the panel members
Would like to come up but I think okay great picks me up when I’m on the stage so good morning everyone it’s very early and it’s great that you all have managed to make it at this time we’re going to follow up that presentation with the panel discussion I’m going to
Introduce the panelists first and then after that there’ll be plenty of time for you also to join in and ask questions too so we’re going to have a bit of a mixed uh discussion so I want to we we’re really uh fortunate to have our panel here today and I just want to
Introduce them briefly before we start so starting with Kiren here um uh Dr Kiren uh klipstein is an associate professor and a vice chair of global health of the Julius Center here in the Netherlands um for Health Sciences and Primary Healthcare she’s an epidemiologist and nutrition scientist with over 25 experiences in
International research capacity strengthening and building in epidemiology and public health with much of that including work in subsaharan Africa so great to have you with us here today um Constance uh Dr Constance asah who luy works the World Health Organization in the African regional office um she was previously a staff
Scientist at the University in the Ivory Coast um and has also worked in Europe together with the tropical medicine Institute in Germany and the radboud university here um in Nyan in the Netherlands um Irene a aapon is um a leading thinker she’s a professor and a Public Health Physician in the public
Health faculty of the G College of Physicians and surgeons I think Irene I’m sorry I’m be so humble but Irene has been an inspiration for many of us working in Health Systems research for many many years so we’re really grateful to have her here um and she’s been the
Regional director of health services in the greater ACA region in Ghana so a kind of mixture between research and and policy um and finally here Lisa um Lisa is the head of the Brussel office and head of the EU advocacy at DSW and advocacy organization ation advocating for um development research and policy
She has a background in European Public Health policy and international human rights law and she’s worked previously for Amnesty International and the green political foundation in Brussels so a really mixed panel of academics policy makers um and Advocates and we’re going to talk about this I’m going to sit down
Now so you can see them all properly Yan you’ve already seen um we’re going to start the conversation um by looking at what’s changed looking at what’s different as you saw the original strategy um 2010 and this has been a revision post the pandemic so I’m going to ask Lisa to
Talk and reflect about how that policy has been revolving evolving over the years and what what’s new about this is anything are we going to start to see anything different so maybe over to you Lisa to start off and and talk about that thank you very much Anna as a civil
Society organization also in Coalition with other health focused NOS we had been advocating for a revised European Global Health strategy for many years because the 2010 strategy was clearly out of date um neglecting major Global health challenges for example AMR sexual reproductive health and rights were not
Addressed in a previous policy so we were really really happy to see the new policy and strategy come about but now we have to focus on the implementation and um for that yeah it was super interesting to see of course what Jan laid out the funding that has been given
Um and while in absolute numbers that might look very impressive um I think I want to highlight that if you look at EU Oda official development assistance and the percentage that is spent on health within that um the you is still far away from what other countries to use not a
Country but let’s say other National budgets spent not in absolute terms but in how they prioritize Health within their Oda and before covid-19 we actually saw very very few countries um globally uh in their bilateral cooperation with the EU prioritizing Health as one of the priority areas in international collaboration with the EU
This has changed now luckily and um yeah when it comes to implementation I think we need to look at where the funding comes from and because there’s no particular funding attached to the strategy as such but the EU has different instruments one is international corporation so Oda and the
Other one is research and Innovation and I think it’s also important that there are no strings attached especially when it comes to research and Innovation collaboration and it’s really about scientific excellence and um Equitable partnership within those collaborations between the European Union member states and also um for example subsaharan
Africa in The Amazing edctp partnership sh and the strategy recognizes the important role of edctp which is great and I think most of us in the room here know um about the amazing work that edctp has been doing but it’s one piece of the puzzle and we need other tools in
The EU ecosystem to support and complement so for example when it comes to the EU Au Innovation agenda that you mentioned earlier one of the four priority areas is Health but then the cause that have been published so far in the Africa initiative within the EU research and Innovation framework
Program Horizon Europe there was no Health focused call so far so we hope to see this change and maybe one last thing you mentioned also the health and all policies I would like to say Global Health in all policies is what we need and there’s some of you might know
Currently a major revision of the EU pharmaceutical strategy going on clearly a health focused policy already yet with no Global Health dimension in it uh in fact the current EU um pharmaceutical strategy has kind of a recital that says that the EU should incentivize Research into tropical diseases and this
Provision has just been scrapped from the new proposal which is now in negotiation in the Parliament and also in the council so where EU member states actually also have a really important role for this upcoming legislation and we hope to see a global Health Dimension included back into this strategy so that
We are not just looking at access to medicines in Europe um and the pharmaceutical Market in Europe but considering Global access also within this maybe more uh domestic policy area Thank you Lisa and in the new strategies I understand there’s more emphasis on local production of vaccines in Africa
Is that aligned or do you see contradictions there I don’t know if you if there’s been any if you’ve heard of any how those two things could work together no I think this everybody would agree that this is something that we need to focus on and increase uh local
Production um capacities and this is something where the the strategy is very strong aligning the different instruments and areas where the EU has influence for example um while edctp which is funded through the research envelopes is funding um clinical research and clinical capacities but also regulatory strengthening
Then in the Oda envelope the work of the ndi of the European Union there is support in the team Europe initiative MAF plus to um manufacturing capacities and they really complement each other but I think we also need support to early stage research so more Health focused support with lmics in particular
Our twin country as the former um commissioner said Africa and um ALS also other incentives for example new pull incentives that could be introduced now in a new farma strategy such as a European prior review voucher okay I don’t know Yan I’m going to call in you just I don’t know if you
Want to respond to any of those statements first and then I move on for other interjections yeah well thanks I think the want to reiterate the point that Lisa made that now it’s uh it’s part of a broader package in 2010 there was the global Health strategy but it wasn’t
Overall prioritized I would say across the various policies and now we have many instruments and policy uh initiatives uh that we could uh tag on and where uh the implementation would would make that sense and the and the linking the production and the research is is is is a classic example the same
For pandemic preparedness which is now of of course a global concern but also across Europe and there to bring in uh the various players uh I think that uh is is a great opportunity where we now need to make sure that all these sprawling initiatives really uh come
Together great thank you might come back to some of these issues later but I want to bring in Constance um from a you saw there was a strong link between the EU and the Au the the African Union um policies I don’t know if if you want to
Reflect on that and think how aligned they are and again changes since the last strategy whether things have have got better and there’s more alignment or there are areas for concern so so come again sorry on the um alignment between the EU strategy and the African union
Strategy or the afro strategy is there alignment or are there differences there and are there areas that could be built upon further um thank you thank you for uh your question and thank you for inv inviting us here um speaking on behalf of wh uh afro and um yeah to come to
Your question um definitely there is a lot of alignment between uh uh what EU the strategy that you put forward and the African Union and also with the wh uh with the African Union African Union has got um um has got a a a program uh um which is uh which is
Entitled Africa’s new Public Health order and uh it Advocates a lot of things that uh the EU strategy wants to do namely um production local production and uh there also strengthening U Public Health Workforce and uh um well talks also uh there is also other other aspect like strengthening
Increasing domestic invest investment in health so so it is good that uh the strategy the way it is built well actually I have to say the consultation phase maybe what good because then you see that uh uh the EU strategy kind of uh feeds into what uh um the African
Union is doing and I think this is going to be good when it comes to implementation because then countries can really own it so uh to come to wh which uh which is the information um the the The Entity I work for um there’s great great overlap uh between uh the policy
Framework uh eu’s policy framework and uh what wh does it’s really uh there’s a great Synergy there and then in the strategy there is also this um this uh willingness to support the work of wh and I think this is excellent because I think wh maybe we don’t realize it um
That W does a lot in terms of capacity building in terms of uh you know in many in different areas right now I’m team lead of uh of the uh research for health and I’m really amazed I’ve joined the position three weeks ago and I’m really
Amazed to see what what they do actually with little capacity a lot of people are working there unvs and uh there is a lot there is really um it is not enough there is collaboration there is alignment in policies but I think we need more and we
Need also to recognize that um well W has got three levels the headquarter the regions and then the countries I am in the African uh uh the regional um office and uh we need we need to recognize that we need much more support than headquarter for example because
Headquarter is much more affluent let’s say so we we need more support and uh and we have a lot of in the in in the in in uh in research for example we have a lot of initiative we a lot of initiative that we want we would not want to
Develop but there we we lack capacity and it will be nice to see how after this meeting how we can engage um with with Yan to to kind of support a little bit more the regional office in Africa thank you very much thank you and maybe
Yan I ask you there was a clear emphasis on supporting the and some of the existing Global bodies was that why why was that done why was that quantities done will that mean that 400 million is that more than has been there in the
Past is this a real increase or just a a statement of uh consistent support um and also how do you see because as you say is regionalizing how do you see um that money being spent what’s your sort of uh discussions with the in terms of how that’s aligned to your overall
Strategy of strengthening institutions yeah thanks well well I work for regional organization so we believe in the value of regional collaboration and strengthening the collaboration between countries in the in the in the in the vicinity and we believe in a strong who but that has always been our not long before the
Pandemic that we have to have a global body that can advise on on health issues globally but also at each country to help uh the countries for their stewardship for the health of their of their population because ultimately it’s the countries that are responsible for providing health care and uh other
Services so um that’s why it has always been our our aim but uh the EU itself or the commission is not a member of the of the who so we don’t contribute to the core budget to to the who so that’s why this partnership this UHC partnership was established to strengthen the
Organization in what it does best and what it should do best at the at the country level Regional and and and the global level and uh when Dr Dr Tedros assumed his position as director General he actually said I want to make this UHC partnership
As the core of how we operate in in in wh so but of course our resources in absolute terms may look big but when it comes down to each country and the regional level it it is not enough certainly so we need to do more but our
Investment is in in Partnerships and for the longer term that is where you can count on uh for when you engage with the with the European Union and uh we we’re committed to that great thank you and Irene I just want to bring you in here
In terms of the overall uh shape of the strategy we mentioned sexual reproductive Health but also this increased emphasis on pandemic response and surveillance do you think it reaches the needs of policy makers in lower middle-income countries I know that’s a very broad category so just maybe from
GH or other areas as an illustration do you think it’s aligned with those kind of interests or do you see a difference between EU policy and what some of those countries really need um okay um thank you Anna and thank you to the organizers for inviting me um I
Actually think the EU strategy is synergistic with the sdgs with you know who Global program of work 13 I even looked at it and looked at the Au strategy there there are lots of areas for synergies I think the problem comes when you have a strategy that tries to
Cover all your bases and I think that’s what the strategy does which is great but then in a world of finite resources the crunch is going to come in implementation because you may not be able to do it all and I think that’s where you may start finding the diverges
Depending on how you go about where do I invest the resources so and I would actually think that there’s still that window but it does involve a lot of dialogue and negotiation and talking because and like you said low and middle income countries are not one Global aggregate you know
There there’s a lot of range so it does mean almost a lot of bilateral talking a lot of openness dealing with you know trust mistrust and so on so it’s yeah it’s not just the technicalities it’s also the politics of the whole thing that’s would be what I
Would say and how do you Yan how do you you know I I I agree with Irene you have this broad um maybe more of an emphasis on the pandemic and the threats area than previously but does that actually affect the percentage of spend when you’re nego negotiating with countries
How do you set priorities within that broad frame um yeah well well in in the dialogue with the with the countries of course we we respect also what what are the concerns of the of the countries and we see ourselves uh from from this dialogue that the that the weaknesses
That have been exposed by the by the pandemic uh then need to be addressed and also systemically for the for the longer term so uh that’s why uh of course at the moment the the activities may be more skewed to to pandemic preparedness um but that is also uh has
Also benefited from the the the global discussion that more resources were made available for particularly for that cause because it was recognized we’re in this together we can only be safe uh once uh once the pandemic is controlled uh everywhere so um but of course that interest is now
Ebing away a little so now it’s really the task for for all of us to see how we can best make use of the initiatives of the resources that have been made available uh so that we can sustain um the these programs in the in the longer
Term thank you yeah Lisa come back in yeah and I think we also have to pay attention and make sure that this increased in interest in pandemic preparedness and we see it also in the programming of horizon Europe health workare programs Hera the the new EU Agency for pandemic preparedness is co-
Programming now also the health cluster um and it cannot happen at the expense of um calls for proposals also on other infectious diseases specifically poverty related neglected infectious diseases um so we need to make sure that the EU who is a great Global Health Champion still um takes care of diseases that suffer
From market failure and that in fact affect predominantly low middle- income countries and not yeah fall into the Trap of being only focused on pandemic preparedness and we have to consider that the multiannual financial framework of the EU was conceived before the pandemic and there was really very
Little interest in health and luckily this has changed now but budget lines that are um meant to support multilateral Health initiatives that were mentioned before they were also conceived before the pandemic and they are depleted now so for the next multiannual financial framework of the EU we really need to make sure that
These budget lines are boosted and that there is more investment in health research as well Constance yes yeah I have a I have a question uh for Yan um when I read the the strategy the new EU Global Health strategy one thing which really for me it’s promising attractive is um the
Concept of co-ownership you know pushing having project but then pushing countries to invest as well I mean in your experience do you see we speaking of limiting resources and a lot to do there are many things that we would like to do and then there’s not enough there aren’t enough resources has this
Attitude um kind of pushed country to invest a little bit more so that we can do a little bit more does it work does it work yeah well we do hope uh it does and and of course it but but it depends country by country because we see uh
Many countries like in the in the Sahel where there is uh political turmoil of course then it’s difficult also to to sustain programs both on the government side and and and and from the from the EU side but in in general uh because of that long-term commitment we have
Seven-year funding cycle so at least we can commit to to to programs that last at least 7 years or more um there is the um way of of engaging with the with the government and of course for for each program there is an agreement what the government will commit uh and what the
EU will commit and then there is check check in points along the way because you you you can’t plan everything for the for the future as we have just recently seen um but but in general terms uh yes we believe that this is uh very successful yeah great thank you yes
Please K yeah so the EU Global Health strategy has really been long awaited it’s a comprehensive one uh and it does hold a lot of promise and uh actually then following up on your your question on Co ownership uh um I think it is not only then co-ownership if you do look at
Various European countries supporting it but of course co-ownership then also with countries around the globe and co-ownership also in potentially also co- financing uh research activities would very much like to also see evolving and um I think you know in that regard I also support very much the the
Question you’ve been um putting forward okay well actually I’m going to follow up with you so how how do you see these strategies I’m going talk a little bit about research and how Academia and knowledge institutions can contribute to this strategy so how do you think they
Can in Europe and um what do you think are the main directions the strategy is giving for the research agenda of the global Health institutes and researchers sitting here Ken sorry that was for you I think it is a very comprehensive strategy um what is also very good to
See that is based on quite a number of guiding principles actually 20 guiding principles have been uh outlined I think at the core is uh very much than also of Equitable Partnerships and working together then also globally and maybe this is then also a test for the strategy it will require financial
Support and uh we heard earlier on from Yan it is unfortunately not not yet ratified and in part this then also uh depends very much on uh um the individual um European countries in how far they are also supporting that process so there is of course also some um
Um there may also then be some additional influences into shaping this agenda depending also on um the different uh Ambitions and uh different strategies and uh programs in the various European member states and Irene oh Lisa please no step back in yeah I wanted to um give one
Concrete example of what maybe everybody in the room could do because um when the EU develops in collaboration with the member states the work programs for the health cluster of the research framework program Horizon Europe the there are always consultations and in these consultations um afterwards you can see
Who replied and what the recommendations were it’s it’s uh huge communities of um yeah European focused health problems let’s say or industry Representatives not so much from Academia and even less so on topics that affect loan midle income countries so if there are consultations taking place on the work
Programs at National level it’s really important to to get in touch with the health uh program committee members of of your respective member state where you live and tell them that it’s important to have also calls for proposals on global health issues in in the Horizon Health cluster work program
And raise the voice and this something everybody can do there that can be institutions that can be individual researchers um but usually the the member states really respect the recommendations from their own National research community community so that’s one call to action for the room to uh raise your voice in those consultations
That we can see more Global Health topics in um in the Horizon Europe work programs yeah and just to to second that as well I mean you talked about edctp which is a obviously a flagship program but also the non-clinical research I think a lot of global health research
Not just from people in this room involves sort of interdisciplinary collaboration I think the strategy highlights Health Systems it highlights human Workforce issues things that go beyond um clinical medicine is the only mechanism to get that kind of research to Lobby Horizon and get it or are there other
Instruments or research instruments that fall um that are Global Health focused or is the only option to then Lobby Horizon to get Global health programs to get that type of research going so I’m I’m I’m curious how you you see that developing and how that alignment is
Developed ye yes so uh yes yes Horizon Europe is a tremendous opportunity um and uh yeah to to include that and for that it would first of all I think uh de develop a a compelling research agenda and how that fits to the to the aims of the
Strategy which is global in nature not only focused on on on Europe and then making the case with those that decide so uh in the EU that’s the that’s the respective member states of course the the commission when the formal consultation also starts um but also I
Would um uh still advertise the the edctp because it also has um regularly calls on on implementation research so how do do uh that includes uh vaccine roll out but also addressing uh hesitancy so it’s it’s it’s infectious disease related but also covers Health Systems aspect so if you look for it you
Will find always opportunities to to to also uh do your collaborative research in the in the dctp and in dctp that is really particularly for the international collaboration the wonderful partnership where the countries of Africa and the countries of Europe and the EU come together to Define these uh
Research priorities so it’s a really bottom up uh way of developing uh and it’s really a pleasure being part of that process so I can only encourage everyone to contact their respective country also if you’re a researcher from Africa and those more importantly even those that are not uh coming from a
Country in Africa that is part of the 27 Lobby your government to join the edctp association so that uh you can also be eligible for funding from this wonderful instrument great and Irene I was going to firstand for you to also yeah go ahead no I I I wanted to comment a bit
On this issue of Health security because sometimes it appears and I think some of it is a bit of the way we frame things and also our failure to listen carefully to each other and also try and be a bit imaginative and be the other person to understand where they are coming from
Because if you look at it I’ll not talk about low and middle- inome countries in general I’ll talk about Africa and even more specifically West Africa where I’m embedded where the concerns are more about universal health coverage and the health systems and I’ll refer back to some of the work of the Lancet
Commission on synergies where you actually find that to attain all these goals they are not necessarily mutually exclusive let me use an example if you look at the data coming out of covid-19 where you have um people already have problems with social determinant of Health they are living in lower income
Neighborhoods they have more problems with uh communic non-communicable diseases um risk factors for non-communicable they have they had better worse Health outcomes in the pandemic versus people in the same country who have are in the different neighborhoods and similarly where you have better Access to Health Systems you
May have better outcomes the same way if I take you back to Ebola in West Africa part of the problem where you had an epidemic that went out of control was the decimated Health Systems in the countries where the problem started you know both Liberia and seron were just
Coming out of a war there are some of the poorest countries in the world Guinea health and you see the thing is that a lot of these epidemics and pandemics they don’t start in a well resourced place you do have exceptions Co started in Wuhan it’s true but if you
Look across even the last 20 years you are talking of pathogens that emerge they take people by surprise now and if you had an even better basic health system in Guinea where this problem started would it have taken three whole months for people to realize this is
What is going on and in that three months the virus had had time to go wherever it needed to go and I don’t want to go on and on but I’m just saying that sometimes s we need to stop a bit and real and think a bit more synergistically about our concerns so
Your concern is Health security and in a way universal health coverage is not such a huge problem in the Richer countries but the reality is that if you don’t move the poorer countries closer to Universal Health Coverage we are all going to continue to be at risk so I
Think we need to do a bit more of that kind of of thinking systems it’s it’s harder it takes more time and more patience and like I said it requires you to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and it’s two ways even for poorer countries sometimes we need to also put
Ourselves in the shoes of the Richer country and understand some of their fears and their concerns it’s it can be incredibly difficult maybe I’ll stop here and thank you and I think well done c i c would had first in the comp so if we didn’t actually take up this
System thinking in a more sistic approach we would of course from a resarch perspective and not only from a research perspective also very much like to see that we could move beyond the edctp program so that has a very specific Focus very much directed at a number of infectious diseases but if we
Do look at what other challenges are out there if you also look at the synergies that we do see and the syndemic that we see with non-communal diseases if we look around at this conference and then we hear about planetary Health we do hear about environmental aspects then of
Course this would also call to use some of the tools and experience that we’ve obtained over the years with edcd P to actually then uh um apply that to many many more topics and and really pen up and I think that would then also then very much call towards realizing this
Very nice and comprehensive EU Global Health Credit F right and consense yeah I just wanted to um add some a little bit something to what uh uh Irene said I think it’s right it’s really right what she’s saying but I think covid-19 has taught uh a lot to everyone and uh when
I read the uh this new strategy for example I mean something which strikes me is the fact that now we realize that it doesn’t always happen there it’s kind you know it it’s it’s we are all involved in so um I guess I want to be a
Little bit uh um optimistic in saying that um slowly we are realizing that we need to invest in each other you know to pull each other so I think uh yeah it’s something we need we would need to uh to to do going forward and I’m confident we
We will go in the right direction thank you so I think now we’re going to move to questions from the audience but I think I was going to round I mean you you heard what Lisa said about how you can take action both in your research
But also in terms of lobbying this is an opportunity um this is a new strategy as you said there are other countries which are now taking on like Germany the Netherlands recently has a new straty as well so there is a a movement to action but it’s not quite yet committed with financial
And it seems like some of the instruments and the lobbying still needs to happen to make it happen and money money go there um but I’d like to hand over to Antonia who will lead perhaps the questions and answers for the audience and talk a bit more about thank
You very much thanks for the to the panelist so now it’s time for questions from from the audience uh if you can raise your hand introduce yourself very briefly ask one single question and if this question is directed to specifically one person uh let us know okay so any
Hands I’m not very good that yeah out there thank you hi good morning thank you very much for this excellent pel discussion my name is cor I work for Whos the Amsterdam based Civil Society organization I heard um Dr P say something about addressing Health Workforce
Imbalances in the EU as well as globally I was very happy with that remark actually because I think that the uh Health work imbalances and the challenges that we have in Europe have a knock on effect on the global Health labor market but I was wondering with the current rather limited Mandate of
The European Union on health Workforce issues um and also the new European health union initiatives not really taking into account this kind of challenges the health work force challenges how is that going to happen concretely and I think this is an important issue also for our African
Colleagues to hear about thank you thank you you want to respond yes um thank you here well here we come to a a point that that is a little uh where we still need to wait the commitment of the of the member states because the the global Health strategy is now what the
Commission proposes and uh we’re still waiting for the um the Council of the EU member states to to to make their commitments because ultimately the the Recruitment and the retention is is is managed by the by the member states and uh because of demographic change uh and um higher higher demand and higher
Mobility of the of the workforce there’s of course a lot of demand for recruiting um health workers from from outside of your of your country and uh that needs to be and in the EU there is freedom of movement um so there’s there’s uh little
Um how you can uh regulate in this sense from from the EU level but the overall aim needs to be to to to to increase uh training uh of of of of medical personnel particularly in in Europe that also lessens than the pull uh pressure from from other parts of the world but
That that will be a discussion uh that will be Central uh to the to the discussion uh between the between the member states and then at the global level how we can do that but training um health workers building capacity in the in the science um Health Science and in
Health Service provision is a key uh Cornerstone of the of the development programs that the EU manages with partner countries any views from our African colleagues on this if you any comments besides what will already be said it’s it’s such a hard issue because I mean in Ghana for example we are losing
Nurses in droves in fact there’s a a whole Ward which is in one of the regional hospitals which is probably going to close down soon but then you have the other side that it’s a push and a pull and I’m not trying to justify anybody but just that again I I think we
Need to sit down and think critically through it is a possible globally to have a bit more of an exchange a fairer sort of system where maybe we agree that maybe we do a bit of an exchange so we need health workers you also need health workers how do we
Solve the problem together right now it’s a fragmented solution I need health workers I can pull them I’m pulling them I need health workers I cannot retain them okay they can go it’s it’s I know it’s very difficult problem and there’s also the human rights of the health workers people
Often don’t talk about it that way but sometimes in my own country I ask people yes you want these health workers to stay would you post your daughter to some of the places you’re asking them to work in because I’ve been in some of those places as a district medical
Officer as a regional medical officer it’s incredibly hard it’s isolated can you solve some of those problems instead of telling them all to be altruistic and not go away it’s difficult very difficult thank you so there there’s a question the gentleman there other hands so we can get prepared one here maybe gender
Balance yes another up there okay thank you thank you for all this uh this inside and and and and really good to to hear different voices and different perspectives uh my name is ramu I’m with lier a foundation that supports public private Partnerships um one of the question that
I had on on when the Horizon Europe program was presented um and I want to connect that to discussion that is on planetary health and environmental on creating Health itself um we always have the risk that we ENT enter up into um into silos and when I look at the Horizon Europe
Program the actual environment or the climate is actually in a different program than the health and I even haven’t touched upon the food and the agriculture for example which also plays a very big part in to create Health as as as as per se so here’s my question my
Question is how does the European Union European commission take care of that there is also an opportunity to do kind of joint programming for example in which you tackle all the different things and then I’m touching upon the one health for example uh so maybe some
Reflection on that thank you over to you John we know you’ll get many questions yeah no a very good question and of course that’s uh that’s an inherent challenge because you because we’re organized in silos whether it’s at Global level the UN organizations are there the the science maybe um so we we
Need to uh push for more interaction and of course the the the the work program of the of the of horizon Europe are done uh in the same process so that’s where we try to look and see um where uh the the topics that overlap may may fit but if there is such
A topic there’s always a link at the other part maybe you want to look here to to do that so uh you you work around something that is inherently difficult because it overlaps one key issue and uh as with a collaboration with with Africa is this team Europe initiative that will
Be working on on one Health that brings together member states and the EU and the partners in in Africa to to look at this specifically but here again this has been very slow to take up precisely because it’s always difficult to get everybody uh on the into the same room
Because you you always have people working on one field and not maybe so uh related to the other so it is a a challenge that we see and we’re we’re we’re trying to address that but it will will not be easy thank you this is part
By the way part of what we were discussing at aen because uh largely the money uh the the the the the calls the way they are designed reflect a little bit what you the two of you reflected uh or refer to and basically we want things
To change we have to be able to be influential enough to permeate though uh these different areas of knowledge and that’s definitely a uh a planet and a one Health Challenge for for research and for training so there was one question here and then a lady up there
Okay yeah thank you all for this very interesting discussion so far already um I’m a medical doctor trained in global Health from the Netherlands yesterday we have had a very interesting talk about falsified and uh substandard medicine um I was wondering if one of the panelists
Um can respond a bit more on that um the the sobering fact yesterday was one of the present Center said that the recommendations in policy documents have stayed almost the same in 15 years so despite these recommendations staying the samees not much has changed um does
Any of the panelists um know who can pick up this glove uh for Innovative uh solutions to this yeah problem that has a big also planetary health impact no this will be for the coffee time medicine a substandard fake fake medicine medicine and the impact of because that’s got or Innovative
Solution of soling we have inovative solution I mean Innovative solution uh right now I would not be I mean I cannot think but I I I know it’s it’s it’s a problem which is get there is awareness more and more awareness and we have to hope that at a certain point that you
Know raising a that um heightened awareness will lead to a a solution but right now um how to solve that problem uh yeah it’s awareness I I know what wh does is to alert people to uh what is happening look there is this batch of meting
Probably is not uh you know this type of action are being taken but um other than that uh yeah you yeah yeah go ahead yeah yeah I I I also think we need to invest much more in regulatory systems the regulatory systems are really porous um
If I use again I use my own country as an example the the borders are very porous there there’s the official border and there are places where and part of it is historically you know the the countries of West Africa like much of Africa artificial they were created at a
Meeting in Germany or something so there are Parts where there’s a country the bedroom is in Ghana and the living room is in Togo or Ivory Coast it’s so easy to smuggle stuff I I could go on and on so it’s really needs a massive investment in some of these
Border controls and in the country regulatory systems and there’s also the poverty yes yeah yeah thank you so one question up there you can bring the microphone and then there’s another question here don’t know if we have two microphones thank you very much uh I’m arti from India and uh it’s a pleasure
To listen to each one of you and it’s a very interesing panel discussion and I heard all the EU funding opportunities for the low and middle income countries and uh which is which is so uh motivating and I also saw the EU Au the you know um the collaborations that’s
Planned for the future so the pandemic was discussed and what I like to bring to the platform here is India is ranked one of the low and middle- income countries but we produced 1 billion vaccines for the covid-19 and we exported them also so what I felt through these examples is that political
Leadership and political commitment is very important and very crucial when we are looking for collaborations and my question to the panel is I know there are policy makers but should we stretch ourselves to make one certain elements from this political elements also to see whatever the research and The Innovation
Which we are planning through the funding that is provided to see the light of the day otherwise just like what I’m sorry I don’t get your names but it’s porus does it reach really the uh unmet need of the country is what I was wondering so when we have this
Consortium when we have this research group or the Innovative group should we have these leadership elements so that whatever is is researched gets to see the light of the day I hope I made myself clear thank you thank you do you want to respond to that please me yeah
I’m not sure I heard everything perfectly because Acoustics are difficult but I think the um you talked about unmet medical need and um how to make sure that whatever is being supported really reaches those uh in in need and I think the EU ecosystem of supporting Global health is really
Complex there are many tools uh even beyond the ones that have been discussed today um next to Horizon Europe edctp there’s also an EI instrument for research and Innovation on infectious diseases there’s early stage research uh through the ERC um and many other initiatives also on the Oda
Side in the end they all will have to play together and um it can only work if the priority setting is done in a Equitable and collaborative way with with partner countries in the global South um but yeah it’s it’s really complex and the definition of of unmet
Medical need is also quite controversial um the current legislative project of the pharmaceutical strategy tries to uh kind of avoid I think defining it but also because yeah people have different understanding of it I think from a development point of view it’s really important that Public Funding should
Serve neglected issues so where there’s market failure because if there’s no market failure uh in some disease areas we have a thriving industry that addresses health problems um mostly concern High income countries uh so in my opinion Public Funding should focus where um the private sector is
Failing and where and and that is often of course in health issues that concern disproportionately lone middle- income countries and then those research priorities have to be defined uh together and also with the stewardship of wh of course so I I’m very sorry sorry we
Don’t have time uh we are in the red time and uh for once in a lifetime I’ll be will not behave as a Mediterranean but as a Dutch and uh I’ll turn over the floor to close uh to to Anna for any final comments you want yeah well I have
23 seconds to do this but I just would really like I I hopefully on behalf of the audience as well to thank our panelists I think we’ve got had a great perspective and I think there is optimism this is a change um economic conditions are difficult but nevertheless the fact that all these
Countries have come sort of the EU and the individual countries are coming forward to prioritize Global health is a moment for us all that we should take up but we have to continue to lobby for this and also Lobby for Integrated Health research and integrated development investment and health system
So I thank you all for listening to everyone and I thank the panelists for um inspiring us and educating us thank you thank you