Yes, we have failed. This was the short answer to the central question posed during a recent European Health Forum Gastein webinar to discuss the European Health Union Initiative (EHUI) – a campaign for a European Health Union (EHU) – which supports the vision of a European Health Union for concerted action on health threats. The European Health Union Initiative looks beyond covid-19 and addresses longer-term and more comprehensive issues such as environmental sustainability and ensuring the most vulnerable populations are heard and protected.

The final episode of the YFG interview series focuses on a participatory approach in the COVID-19 pandemic. Dheepa Rajan, Health Systems Advisor, Department for Health Systems Governance and Financing, World Health Organization and Young Gasteiner Matej Vinko, Public Health Specialist, National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia, elaborate on the elements of participatory health governance and how civil society can better be part of decision-making processes.

This episode of the YFG interview series focuses on digital health applications and spotlights the German experience. Julia Hagen, Director Regulatory & Politics, Health Innovation Hub, German Federal Ministry of Health, introduces the DiGA – Digital Health Applications and learnings from the process. Interviewed by Michele Calabrò, Policy Adviser, European Patients’ Forum.

Ghazala Mir, Associate Professor, Leeds University, UK, has her research interests in health and social inequalities. Her research covers disadvantaged ethnic and faith communities, women and people with learning disability. She is the Chair of the UK Inequalities Research Network.

During the EHFG 2020, Ghazala Mir was a panellist in the session “Mitigating COVID-19’s impact on health and health inequalities”. Young Gasteiners, Lela Sulaberidze, Curatio International Foundation, and Sabah Boufkhed, King’s College London, interviewed Ghazala on the related topics.

The YFG interview series continues this week with a discussion on cancer care, health literacy and EU’s Beating Cancer Plan. Interview with Urška Košir, PhD Research, University of Oxford, and Pawe? Koczkodaj, PhD, Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Poland.