The Health Brief

Jul 25 2023 22 ep. 17 mins 6
The Health Brief Podcast artwork

Welcome to EURACTIV's health Brief, your weekly update on health policy in the EU from EURACTIV's health news team: Gerardo Fortuna, Giedre Peseckyte and Clara Bauer.

  News  Health & Fitness
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


Understanding vaccine hesitancy in Europe

Jul 25 2023 12 mins  
This week EURACTIV's health reporter Marta Iraola talks to Dr. Emilie Karafillakis about vaccine confidence in Europe and what is behind people's lack of trust in vaccination and public health campaigns. In this episode, the health team reunites before the summer to say goodbye to this podcast as from September health topics will be covered under Beyond the Byline podcast.

AI: at the Interface of computer science and Medicine

Jul 18 2023 32 mins  
From YouTube-recommended videos to facial recognition used to unlock smartphones, AI is already being used on a daily basis. The healthcare sector is not an exception as its ability to process vast amounts of medical data helps in diagnostics and medical image analysis. To better understand where AI is already used and what potential it holds, EURACTIV’s Giedrė Peseckytė is tal

European Health Data Space on the Parliament's Plate

Jul 11 2023 25 mins  
As the European Parliament debates how European health data space should be shaped, EURACTIV talks with the co-rapporteur of the file, Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol (EPP), touching on primary and secondary use of data, the reasons why parliament supports the opt-out option and what is left to discuss before the discussions can start with the Council.

Balancing patients' privacy and health data's potential

Jul 04 2023 20 mins  
European Health Data Space (EHDS) focuses on the primary and secondary use of data. While the primary use of data is data used by citizens and healthcare professionals at the national and EU levels the secondary data is to be used by researchers, policy makers and pharma. The Commission's proposal does not include any say for patients regarding the secondary use of data, while Parl

The challenge of guaranteeing access to healthcare to all Ukrainian refugees

Jun 27 2023 19 mins  
On the occasion of the first Healthcare Forum, which took place in Wąsowo, Poland last week, Euractiv spoke with the Regional Director of WHO/Europe, Dr Hans Kluge. In this interview, Dr. Kluge looked back on his meeting with the Polish and Ukrainian Ministers of Health about the Healthy Reconstruction of Ukraine. He dug into the physical and mental health needs of the refugees, b

A closer look at Europe's fertility challenge

Jun 20 2023 10 mins  
This week EURACTIV'S health team explores why fertility is decreasing across the globe, what challenges people face when they want children and the situation of fertility treatments in Europe. For that, Health Reporter Marta Iraola talks with Dr Carlos Calhaz-Jorge, a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology and chair of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (E

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: a silent threat for children's development

Jun 14 2023 14 mins  
This week, EURACTIV’s health team dives into how endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) can affect children, especially in their most important developmental years. They talk with Doctor Anders Juul, a paediatric endocrinologist at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. He explains how children are exposed to these chemicals and the health issues this can cause them, both as kids and as adu

Much more than a ‘party drug’

Jun 07 2023 35 mins  
Psilocybin, MDMA or LSD might associate with party drugs but their therapeutic value is being discovered worldwide. Ian Roullier took part in two clinical trials that looked at the effects of psilocybin on depression. Through his personal experience, Roullier shares his insights on psychedelic-assisted therapy, its potential value to patients and what is needed to boost research in

The need to phase out tobacco farming

May 30 2023 16 mins  
Tobacco is responsible for 8 million deaths a year but despite that governments across the world spend millions supporting tobacco farms, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. As 31 May marks World No Tobacco Day, EURACTIV’s health team talks with Rudiger Krech, WHO Director of the Health Promotion Department, on the impact of toxic chemicals used in tobacco farms

Mental health matters in the Parliament

May 23 2023 14 mins  
From psychedelics and mental health literature to having pets in EU institutions - EURACTIV’s health reporter Giedrė Peseckytė is talking with three MEPs - Maria Walsh from Christian Democrats, Mikuláš Peksa from the Greens and Karen Melchior from Renew - about mental health.