Newsletter October 2008

Welcome to the October 2008 Newsletter

As autumn sets in, all eyes are currently on the US with the imminent election of a new head of state for the world’s only superpower. The impact will be felt not only by Americans. The most powerful office in the world has the weight to dictate political and economic policy in Europe and beyond, and the favourite, Barack Obama, will certainly bring some changes to the global health system.

Firstly, US policy on reproductive health should change rapidly. The US has systematically undermined the support of reproductive health programmes across Africa and other parts of the world, withdrawing funding from initiatives promoting condom use whilst pushing for abstention policies. This has been catastrophic for global health in terms of rates of infection, maternal and female health and emancipation as well as the human tragedy for a continent that is bearing the brunt of the global disease burden of HIV/AIDS. This is also relevant closer to home, with HIV infections continuing to increase on our Eastern borders and in countries with one eye on EU membership in the not-so-distant future.

The second change we are hoping for is the reduction in aggressive trade pressure for Europe to accept imports of certain US products such as chlorine-washed chicken and GMOs, amongst others. The issue here is two-fold - the health concerns for these products but also the ability of European leaders to represent the interests of European citizens by rejecting products we do not want and do not need.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, the next president of the United States of America is inheriting a financial system that is on the brink of collapse and a global economy that is wobbling wildly. The decisions will need to be bold, and occasionally painful. The building of institutions and structures now will affect the financial system - and the threat of future crises - for some time to come. It is always the most vulnerable that bear the brunt of the pain during a crisis, whether food shortages or recession. Now we are facing both.

Some argue that any change would be an improvement.

Globally, the Bush administration has been catastrophic. Poor military decisions and implementations have given us huge pockets of global insecurity and an increase in radical religion; poor financial and economic decisions mean the world is now on the brink of economic collapse; complete disregard for the environment has created an unacceptable dragging of feet in terms of addressing climate change; and the narrow-minded social agenda has led to the unnecessary deaths of many and the orphaning of millions.

One question remains, where were European leaders during this time?

Read all the online articles of our Newsletter for october 2008

EPHA members can find the following new information in the Members Only section:

Final Minutes EPHA Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA) - 28 November 2008

BEUC Briefing to MEPs on Food Labelling, Strasbourg

article 3272

article 3273

Royal College of Physicians Roundtable on Patients’ Rights Directive

article 3264

ALTER-EU Assembly 2008

*Update with the outcome* The Commission’s Register of Interest Representatives

article 3238

article 3226

’Europe for Patients,’ 13-14 October 2008 Paris

Please note that if an EPHA member would like to highlight their activities in the EPHA Newsletter, the deadline to submit a news item is Monday 20 October 2008. Please send your items to the EPHA Secretariat