Industrial changes in the health sector in the face of multiplying crises

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, health has become a central topic on the geopolitical stage and has increasingly become interlinked and interconnected across the EU policy ecosystem. Health is a national competence but the approach used during COVID showed there is enough flexibility so that the EU strongly supports public health and global health. The EU Global Health Strategy, launched at the end of 2022, shows the political path forward, guiding the EU’s role in advancing health for all beyond 2023. This own-initiative opinion will examine four key dimensions:  

• Strategic autonomy in health: the global competition for control of value chains and strategic dependencies for active pharmaceutical ingredients, medical products and countermeasures highlighted by the pandemic.

• Structural trends in health and related sectors - health inequalities, demographic changes, and digitalisation, working conditions of health workers, etc -, which impact on social cohesion and the EU’s overall actorness on the global health stage.

• Health coordination – the coordination of the global health policies and the member states in using health investments and development cooperation to foster partnerships with other states and civil societies in various parts of the world.

• Security, defence, and the mitigation of major shocks. EU is facing many major risks which have impacts on human health and public health systems, such as bioterrorism and hybrid warfare, extreme weather events, and raw material and chip shortages.