Health Summit 2026

Europe’s health sector faces growing pressure from geopolitical tensions, trade uncertainty, global competition, and ageing populations. These challenges are exposing vulnerabilities in supply chains for medicines and medical technologies, while highlighting the significant economic, social, and workforce costs of neglecting health and underinvesting in prevention, care, and innovation.

Against this backdrop, the implementation of the Critical Medicines Act will be central to strengthening Europe’s resilience while securing reliable access to essential treatments. At the same time, significant unmet needs remain in areas such as rare diseases, brain health, and cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, where access to diagnosis, treatment, and innovation is still uneven across Europe.

The challenge for Europe is clear: how to reinforce industrial and supply chain resilience while accelerating innovation and ensuring equitable access to care across Member States.

Join policymakers, experts, and industry leaders in Brussels as we explore how Europe can turn today’s health and geopolitical pressures into a more resilient and patient-centred healthcare future.

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- What concrete mechanisms are needed to translate the Critical Medicines Act into functioning supply chains—procurement, stockpiles, faster permitting, and clear shortage obligations?

- Can the EU secure supply for critical medicines without driving up costs—or widening access gaps between Member States as national measures and joint EU tools evolve?

- Can Europe boost resilience without leaving global health equity behind—especially as pandemic preparedness and international rules on access to countermeasures move from negotiation to implementation?

- How can the EU turn the Safe Hearts Plan’s ambition on prevention and early detection into scaled implementation—clear pathways, follow-up capacity, and funding—across Member States?

- Will a coordinated EU approach—health checks, national plans, and stronger risk-factor prevention policies—be enough to cut cardiovascular deaths by 25% by 2035?

- How can the EU better integrate cardio-renal-metabolic (CRM) diseases into prevention and care strategies, recognising the links between cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, MASH, and obesity?

- What should a European Rare Diseases Action Plan deliver to become a true flagship health initiative, and how can it drive progress on early diagnosis, coordinated care, and data sharing across the EU?

- Are current incentives and regulatory frameworks sufficient to stimulate rare disease innovation while keeping treatments accessible and affordable—and how should evidence requirements evolve to work with HTA in practice?

- What infrastructure is still missing—genomics capacity, interoperable data, clinical decision support, and reimbursement pathways—to make personalised medicine a reality beyond rare diseases?

- What is the scale of the respiratory disease burden linked to environmental pollution, and which communities are most exposed and underserved?

- How can the European Beating Cancer Plan be leveraged to strengthen prevention and early detection of pollution-related respiratory diseases and cancers—particularly in high-exposure and vulnerable communities?

- How can health, environment, and urban planning policies be better integrated to reduce exposure—while delivering practical actions that protect people ahead of the winter season?

MD & Independent Journalist
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