Food safety, air quality, endocrine disruptors, GMOs, working conditions, the fight against epidemics, drug evaluation: there are many topics on which the EU tries to coordinate the policies of EU member states to protect European citizens' health. In an aging Europe where the burden of chronic diseases is rising, how to ensure good health for all, while encouraging economic progress?
Health
Facing new risks
Gene-mapping champion Iceland leads the way in Covid sequencing
Iceland has genetically sequenced all its positive Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, an increasingly vital practice as worrying new strains emerge from Britain and South Africa
How Ireland became ‘most infectious’ coronavirus country
In the midst of a third wave of coronavirus infections, Ireland now holds the unhappy title of the nation with the highest transmission rate in the world.
Europe vaccine rollout shifts up a gear as supply worries linger
France and Russia prepare to beef up their coronavirus inoculation programmes, even as authorities seek to allay concerns about vaccine supplies while the global pandemic shows no sign of abating
New virus mutation raises vaccine questions
The British coronavirus variant has increased transmissibility, but other mutations are provoking concern among scientists who are scrambling to work out if they will still respond to vaccines.
Global death toll nears 2 million as WHO battles new virus strains
The worldwide death toll from coronavirus is approaching two million, with Europe topping 30 million infections and WHO experts working on advice to fight new, more contagious strains of the disease
High hopes but slow start: Europe’s Covid vaccine drive
Despite high hopes and ambitious goals, most vaccination campaigns in Europe are off to a slow start, hampered by limited stocks of doses and logistical constraints