Climate change has a notable impact on health and if steps are not taken, more frequent heatwaves and better conditions for diseases will cause more deaths and cost billions of euros, warns EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis.
The EU wants to quickly respond to health emergencies, such as the Ebola and Zika virus outbreaks in the future with a new medical corps, the European Commission said on Monday (15 February).
Fundamental research into the effects of the disease, and into vector control for this and other diseases is welcome, but it will not address the immediate lack of a vaccine, writes Cecile Vernant.
Researchers from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) are developing tools to monitor the Zika virus, as it is highly likely that it will reach Southern Europe, according to the group.
Europe's drugs regulator said on Monday (8 February) it had established an expert Zika task force to advise companies working on vaccines and medicines against the virus, which is suspected of causing a spike in birth defects in Brazil.
Joanne Liu, the energetic president of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), says that the response to refugees in Greece is "indecent". She contends that refugees should be offered a "welcome package" when they arrive in Europe.
In order to combat the Zika virus, which is spreading rapidly throughout Latin America, the executive wants to allocate €10 million from the EU budget.
The World Health Organization yesterday (1 February) declared the mosquito-borne Zika virus an international public health emergency due to its link to thousands of birth defects in Brazil.