Global Health Governance was one of the key topics during last year's European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG). The EHFG is the leading health policy event in the EU and it provides a major platform for decision-makers from public health & health care. The official congress summary has now been published and is available online.

During the parallel session on Global Health Governance, the European approach to the global health issues of our time were discussed. A central element of the discussions was the acknowledgement that health has lost much of its national sovereignty. Globalisation and a complex network of actors and determinants require a different and novel approach to global health governance. However, bureaucratic challenges stemming from fragmented activities often hinder developments. The panellists agreed that WHO and the EU need to take responsibility to address the upcoming challenges by leading collaborations which promote health as a human right. This also requires working together with the private sector, which plays a large role in the current changes and power shifts in the global architecture.

High level speakers and panelists included Zsuszanna Jakab, Regional Director of the the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Marc Sprenger, Director of the European Center for Disease Control, Srinath Reddy, President of the Indian Public Health Foundation and Yang Gonghuan, the former Vice Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control. Together with experts from the European Commission, the European External Action Service as well as from the Member States, industry and academia, all speakers provided excellent contributions to this highly dynamic and complex field.

The following text is an excert of a well-informed article on the future of the Millennium Development Goals process, published by the Brookings Institution.

The [Millenium Development] goals will expire on December 31, 2015, and the debate over what should come next is now in full swing. This year, a high-level UN panel, co-chaired by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will put forward its recommendations for a new agenda. The United States and other members of the UN General Assembly will then consider these recommendations, with growing powers, such as Brazil, China, India, and Nigeria, undoubtedly playing a major role in forging any new agreement. But prior to deciding on a new framework, the world community must evaluate exactly what the MDG effort has achieved so far. Continue reading

A new book on Global Health Diplomacy, edited by Ilona Kickbusch, Graham Lister, Michaela Told and Nick Drager, has recently been published.

The book sets out defining principles for global health diplomacy and examines the current agenda of the field as well as relationships between the different diplomatic areas.

Featured topics include:

• The legal basis of global health agreements and negotiations.
• Global public goods as a foundation for global health diplomacy.
• Global health: a human security perspective.
• Health issues and foreign policy at the UN.
• National strategies for global health.
• South-south cooperation and other new models of development

For more information, click here

This week the United Nationals Environment Programm (UNEP) successfully concluded a series of high-level multilateral negotiations to address the global threat posed to health and the environment by mercury. The text of a legally binding Treaty was finalized this week and is expected to be signed by over over 140 countries.

In summary, the treaty establishes a series of measures to protect human health and the environment, including controls on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and industry, as well as the use of mercury in mining. Further, the treaty sets a "phase out" date of 2020 for mercury thermometers and blood pressure measuring devices used in health care.

WHO reports that: "Mercury can produce a range of adverse human health effects, including permanent damage to the nervous system, in particular the developing nervous system. Due to these effects - and also because mercury can be passed from a mother to her unborn child, infants - children and women of child-bearing age are considered vulnerable populations".

Click here for the press release from the European Commission commenting on the treaty.

Click here for more information on the negotiation processes.

Click here for a commentary from WHO.

For a detailed report of the meeting, click here

Global Health Europe and the Global Health Working Group of the British International Studies Association organized a discussion meeting on "Beyond the Eurozone Crisis: Europe and the New Realities for Global Health". The meeting, held on 27 September 2012, was hosted at the European Commission Representation (Europe House, London) and was co-sponsored by the UK's Health Protection Agency and the Centre for Global Health Policy at Sussex University.

Two panel sessions, chaired and moderated by Andrew Jack, took the themes 'what should Europe do for global health' (panellists Nick Tomlinson, Head of International Affairs, Department of Health; Beatrice Nere, Programme Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Chris Brookes, Director of Programmes and Partnership, Health Action Partnership International: HAPI) and 'why is addressing global health important for Europe' (panellists Richard Bergström, Director General, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations; Anthony Kessel, Director of Public Health Strategy, Health Protection Agency; Sir Tom Hughes-Hallett, Executive Chair, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London).

For a detailed report of the meeting, click here.

For an editorial in The Lancet arising from the meeting, click here.

For photos and videos of the event, click here.