Welcome to the 17th issue of Health Europa Quarterly, which focuses on the fast-growing worlds of infection prevention and control and digital health technology; as well as the ongoing fight against COVID-19 and the drive to establish a more patient-centred paradigm of care.
This edition is introduced by Frances Fitzgerald MEP, who highlights the need for a gender-responsive approach to post-pandemic recovery.
Sharon Peacock, Executive Director of COG-UK, outlines the crucial role of genomics research in arresting the spread of the virus. We speak to Cindy Hou of the Sepsis Alliance, Professor Jan-Ingvar Jönsson of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance, and members of the AMR Industry Alliance about the continued need for clinical infection prevention programmes beyond COVID-19; and Dr Albert Osterhaus of the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza tells us about the continued threat posed by influenza.
The COVID-19 pandemic has overshadowed many other aspects of healthcare in the last 15 months, but these issues remain present and pressing. Dr Richard Schlanger of the American Professional Wound Care Association and members of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care speak to HEQ about the neglected wound treatment sector; while Stop TB Partnership Executive Director Lucica Ditiu tells us about the burden and care of tuberculosis and Dr Osama B Hassan highlights the need for action to prevent and treat cholera in low- and middle-income countries.
With vaccines for COVID-19 now being mass-produced and distributed worldwide, we discuss the logistics of the transport cold chain with UNICEF’s Thomas Sorensen and Nenad Miljković of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists; and Health Action International’s Ellie White tells us about the No Profit On Pandemic campaign, which aims to combat pharmaceutical profiteering and vaccine inequity.
In our technology section, we hear from Patrick Malléa and Jérémy Clech of the AI4EU consortium and Dr Birgit Graf of Fraunhofer IPA on the development and implementation of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics technologies within the health space; and from the Electronic Health Record Association on the benefits of digitally stored health and care data. Our diseases and conditions section includes contributions from Alzheimer Europe; the European Commission, discussing the EU Beating Cancer Plan; and Prostate Cancer UK. This section includes a focus on rare diseases, with the European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS), the Pompe Support Network and the Association for Glycogen Storage Disease giving us their perspective on rare disease research, treatment and care.
The healthcare in practice section, where we hear from Pain Alliance Europe’s Mariana Branco, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ Ashley Martin and Health First Europe’s Brandon Mitchener, is followed by a special feature covering European Patients’ Rights Day. This special section, developed and produced in association with our media partner the Active Citizenship Network (ACN), features contributions from ACN Director Mariano Votta, Tomislav Sokol MEP and Paul De Raeve, Secretary General of the European Federation of Nurses Associations.
This issue closes with our Medical Cannabis Network supplement, which provides a global overview of the cannabis and psychotropics industries. In MCN, which is introduced by European Medicinal Cannabis Association General Secretary Sita Schubert, we hear from experts and industry bodies including the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis, the European Industrial Hemp Association and ICBC founder Alex Rogers.
Rosemary Lobley
Editor
Health Europa Quarterly
