Health

Last year, more than half of the alerts issued by the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed concerned products from non-EU countries. If these countries are unable to adapt their production chains to EU food safety regulations over the next few years, the risks to European citizens will continue to grow.

Ángela Bernardo, ​data journalist at Civio, ​coordinated EDJNet’s large investigation on access to mental health care in Europe. In this video, she presents how her team approached the subject and what were some of the most interesting findings of their work. Mental health care, including both psy​​chological and psychiatric care, is critical to the wellbeing of plenty of people, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic – yet access to treatment is not always easy, especially in the public sector.

In many European countries, the availability of psychological treatment in the public healthcare system is inadequate or even non-existent. Barriers such as long waiting lists, co-payments and inadequate resources push people with anxiety or depression – those who can afford it – to the private system.

Pharmaceutical giants producing COVID-19 vaccines are open to collaboration with third parties, as long as they retain control on vaccine licenses and profits. EU member states complain about supply shortages, but fail to question the power of Big Pharma.

Before the implementation of additional allocations such as the recovery fund, one of the first instruments put in place by the EU was the possibility for states to redirect their own European funds to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. Let's see how this process played out, in Italy and in other countries.

The clash between the EU and AstraZeneca over delayed vaccines has revealed a stack of questionable contracts signed with Big Pharma. Problems include manufacturers’ ambiguous delivery dates, but lawyers investigating the deals show that companies have a clear advantage over the EU. 

The Covid-19 pandemic is a cruel reminder that ecosystem vitality and human health are closely linked. For Eloi Laurent, "the best economic policy is a good health policy and the best health policy is a good environmental policy. We see that there is no trade-off between economy and environment."

Doubts, controversies, delays. Vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 in the Western Balkans have only started in Serbia and Albania, while the other countries in the area risk dangerous delays, despite some support initiatives promoted by the European Union

With COVID-19 in the spotlight, refugees and undocumented migrants disappeared from public attention. Precisely what swept these communities away from the agenda, however, disproportionately affected them.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Italian authorities have allocated almost five billion euro for the supply of materials necessary for containing the spread of the virus. 1.7 billion went to foreign companies. An analysis of the public contracts awarded in response to Covid-19 in Italy.