Health

With COVID-19 in the spotlight, refugees and undocumented migrants disappeared from public attention. Precisely what swept these communities away from the agenda, however, disproportionately affected them.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Italian authorities have allocated almost five billion euro for the supply of materials necessary for containing the spread of the virus. 1.7 billion went to foreign companies. An analysis of the public contracts awarded in response to Covid-19 in Italy.

Slow starts, supply shortages, disorganised and ad hoc management… Responses to COVID-19 across Europe have hardly been an occasion for pride. The OECD stresses the need to take into account the social inequalities in health, and consider health an investment rather than an expense.

Mental health resources in the European Union were scarce even before the pandemic. COVID-19 has caused a tsunami in mental health, and access to care is more difficult today. About 75 percent of psychiatry services in the EU have been taking place via telemedicine, but this is not a viable option for all patients.

Contrary to the trend across Europe, the Romanian capital has seen a drastic increase in AIDS cases in the last decade. The crisis is fueled by the use of synthetic drugs and lack of harm reduction services

A growing number of studies highlight the importance of clusters and superspreaders in the transmission of COVID-19. In order to fight the epidemic, we must have a better understanding of where outbreaks are happening and consider new ways of tracking cases.

Five years after the Dieselgate scandal, new research puts some figures on the social costs of vehicle emissions in over 400 European cities. It turns out that the annual damage to each city is worth €385 million on average.

According to the latest European Environment Agency report, a significant proportion of the burden of disease in Europe continues to be attributed to environmental pollution resulting from human activity.

As summer nears its end, it is becoming possible to evaluate the coronavirus pandemic’s toll on European regions over nearly six months. We have analysed data from 776 subnational regions to better understand where the virus is continuing to hit hard.

We have gathered data on excess deaths from 500 European regions to better understand the spread of the virus. Some regions report up to three times as many deaths as usual since March, but a large part of Europe has been able to live through the first wave of the pandemic without any significant excess death.