The European Health Union: European Union's Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios

Rare diseases: still on the fringes of universal health coverage in Europe

Despite general advancements in population health indicators and universal health coverage, people living with rare diseases and their families still experience considerable unmet needs, including prolonged diagnostic journeys, limited treatment options, and a huge psychosocial burden due to the lack of coordinated, integrated care. Attainment of universal health coverage for rare diseases is dependent on fundamentally different health determinants and demands for different solutions. This involves consolidating expertise through Centers of Excellence, establishing efficient care pathways, fostering extensive collaboration at European and global levels in research and healthcare, and putting patients at the center of care. Furthermore, development of specific indicators and coding systems is crucial for monitoring progress. Only in this way Europe can strive towards a future where people living with rare diseases receive the same level of equitable, safe, high-quality healthcare as other members of the society, in alignment with the overarching goal of leaving no one behind.

The architecture of the European Union's pandemic preparedness and response policy framework

BACKGROUND

COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of preparedness and response systems when faced with a pandemic. The rapid spread of the disease throughout Europe raised questions about the capacity of the European Union (EU) and its Member States to combat serious cross-border threats to health. This article provides an overview of institutional arrangements for pandemic preparedness before the COVID-19 pandemic and outlines the changes proposed by the European Health Union (EHU) framework.

METHODS

A systematic review of relevant EU law, EU policy documents and the scientific literature was conducted. EUR-lex, PubMed, Web of Science core collection and Google Scholar databases were searched for relevant records published after the year 2000. The proposed new regulatory framework was extracted from the EHU legislative package. The results were organized according to the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Logic Model.

RESULTS

The main EU bodies involved in preparedness and response are the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Commission and the Health Security Committee (HSC). The proposed changes of the EHU focus on strengthening the auditing capabilities of the ECDC, increasing the scope of EU action in managing medical countermeasures, and further formalizing the HSC.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposal takes bold steps to address technical and political issues of preparedness and response; whereas, on the latter point, it is likely that amendments to the proposal will not address long-standing challenges in preparing for and coordinating national responses to a future EU-wide pandemic.

Hijab or Niqab Interacts with Facemasks Usage at Healthcare Settings in Kabul, Afghanistan: A Multi-Center Observational Study

Purpose: We aimed to understand the extent of facemask usage resulting from the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in an Afghan context. In Afghanistan, new COVID-19 variants, low vaccination rates, political turmoil, and poverty interact not only with the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic but also with facemask usage. Methods: We collected data (n = 1970) by visually observing the usage and type of facemasks used among visitors entering healthcare facilities in Kabul. We conducted an observational study observing the use of facemasks among 1279 men and 691 women. Results: While 71% of all participants adhered to wearing facemasks, 94% of these users wore surgical masks, and 86% wore all types of facemasks correctly. Interestingly, women adhered to wearing facemasks more than men. Specifically, of all the participants who were not wearing masks, 20% were men, and only 8% were women. Even though men were more in number in our study (64.9%), women have a higher adherence rate to wearing facemasks than men. Conclusions: We conclude that gender socialization and expectations of women to wear the niqab or hijab interact with their adherence to wearing facemasks. Additionally, since Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, which has witnessed a considerable period of political turmoil, we spotlight that our findings are rare in scholarship as they represent a distinct non-Western Islamic society with a low scale of COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, more research is needed to assess the general population's socioeconomic and geopolitical barriers to facemask use, given that Afghanistan is an underrepresented social context. Our findings are expected to aid health policymakers in developing novel prevention strategies for the country.

Golf and Health, More than 18 Holes—A Bibliometric Analysis

Despite golf’s contribution to health, scientific production related to golf and health has been relatively scarce. This work aims to investigate the state of the art on golf and health and to identify existing gaps and the principal and most notable potential future research trends, contributing to connecting the reality of the facilities dedicated to the practice of this sport and its contribution to raising awareness of the importance of sport in maintaining health. A total of 179 articles were analyzed following the steps for systematic reviews and meta-analysis protocols based on the PRISMA 2020 methodology and QUORUM, and a bibliometric analysis was carried out. Research to date has mainly focused on the benefits of golf in improving health, preventing illness, slowing down aging, or as rehabilitation and on exploring the risks and injuries involved in playing golf. The different ways of promoting participation or changing the image of golf by showing its healthy side are outlined as research trends in the coming years. There is a lack of exploration of the use of technology, the effects of the sport on certain disorders related to psychosocial factors, and further knowledge of the relationships between playing intentions and health. This research provides essential information for researchers who plan to work with golf in the future.