Welcome to Health Europa Quarterly Issue 13, which focuses – inevitably – on issues surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, from the importance of hand hygiene to control the spread of infection to the potential repurposing of low cost antibiotics as a prophylactic against contracting the virus.
Health Europa Quarterly issue 13 opens with Dr Agoritsa Baka, Principal Expert for Emergency Preparedness and Response at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, highlighting the need for public health support in these unprecedented times. This is followed by a special feature, produced in partnership with the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN), celebrating the World Health Organization’s designation of 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
In addition to exclusive articles from EFN Secretary General Paul De Raeve detailing the work of the EFN and the need for collaborative synergy across the EU’s healthcare sector, HEQ was able to speak to nurses, academics and policymakers around Europe about the essential work performed by nurses.
Our celebration of nurses is followed by a special feature on the Covid-19 pandemic: Professor Michael Lisanti of the University of Salford details the potential of senolytic drugs as a treatment option; while European Institute for Gender Equality Director Carlien Scheele explores the gendered impacts of Covid-19 and Max Simonovsky, CEO of Soapy Care, tells us how ‘smart sinks’ could revolutionise hand hygiene.
We then move on to the potential of technological innovations to change the face of modern healthcare, as Mindmore showcases its digital cognitive testing capabilities and Person Centred Software highlights the need for care providers to digitise their own processes; while Cerebriu Apollo integrates machine learning into diagnostic medical imaging.
UK peer Baroness Jolly, Co-Chair of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ageing and Older People, highlights the challenges facing the treatment of an ageing population as Virotea founder Ivan Perlesi showcases the benefits of virtual reality in elderly care. In an embedded e-book, Susanne Kircher, co-founder of the Austrian MPS Society, talks about mucopolysaccharide storage disorders, rare chronic diseases which typically manifest in early childhood.
An overview of developments in IVF and reproductive science by Rebecca Swann and Jason Kasraie of the Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists is followed by AIVF’s innovative use of Artificial Intelligence in IVF treatment. We then close with a focus on healthcare in practice, following Dr Ben Jansen along his 500-day journey prescribing medicinal cannabis in Australia.
Rosemary Lobley
Editor
Health Europa Quarterly
