Health

The Covid-19 restrictive measures in the Balkans risk putting young people – a segment of the population that has been in constant demographic decline for years – in even more difficulty. A look at the pandemic and the state of the vaccination campaign in the Balkans for the youngest population.

In Europe, the period 2020-2021 was to mark the turning point in the fight against plastic waste, one of the most urgent problems of our century. Then came the new Coronavirus: with masks, gloves, and anti-contagion packaging, the risk of a step back is increasingly concrete

Meetings with dozens of assistants and thousands of civil servants fly under the radar of the EU's transparency register. The heads of the pharmaceutical industry, EFPIA is one of the most active lobby groups. In less than a year and a half since the start of the pandemic they have held as many meetings with senior Commission officials as in the last five years.

As the EU sets its sights on harmonising taxation of the rising e-cigarette and heated tobacco products market, lobbyists fight to keep prices down and smokers hooked. The forthcoming negotiations are intertwined with the bitter competition between the two industry giants.

According to the annual assessment of the European Railway Agency, the trend of a steady decrease in the number of rail accidents continues. However, rail-related suicide rates remain roughly the same.

Doctors continue prescribing anti-anxiety medications such as lorazepam or diazepam for long periods despite the risk of addictions. Meanwhile, under-investment in psychological care is making things worse.

Last week, the European Parliament called for the better treatment and management of obesity as average obesity levels in the EU have risen by 161% since 1975.

Mainly three things: the number of doctors and nurses and the population density of a region are more important indicators than the number of ICUs in predicting Covid-19 deaths, there does not appear to be a causal association between per-capita numbers of ICUs and deaths from Covid, and excess mortality showed a correlation with the "pandemic waves".

After more than a year of successive lockdowns implemented by European governments to curb the spread of COVID-19, the French authorities are now worried about the mental health of their citizens.

While the EU’s most populous countries are recording the most overall COVID-19-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria had the highest number of COVID-19-related deaths in relation to their populations during the same period.