On 3 June 2026, European Commissioner for Equality and Health Preparedness Hadja Lahbib addressed the European Parliament's Committee on Public Health, calling for sustained investment in health emergency preparedness and women's health in the next EU budget. She stressed that health threats such as Hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks demonstrate the need for coordinated EU and global action, and that preparedness is a security issue.
Lahbib highlighted recent EU initiatives, including the Preparedness Union Strategy and the Medical Countermeasures Strategy adopted last year. Three weeks ago, the Commission launched the Global Health Resilience Initiative to strengthen surveillance in third countries and support rapid development of medical tools. Earlier this year, the EU adopted a Comprehensive Health Threat Prioritisation Assessment, which lists Ebola and Hantaviruses as priority threats. Through Horizon Europe and EU4Health, the EU is funding vaccine and therapeutics candidates against these diseases, and donating protective equipment to support outbreak response.
At the One Health Summit in Lyon last April, the Commission committed €50 million to develop new antibiotics against antimicrobial resistance and a treatment for Dengue. Lahbib also announced plans to tackle disinformation in health emergencies, drawing on her background as a journalist.
On women's health, Lahbib emphasised that medicine has historically been designed around male standards, leading to misdiagnoses and inadequate treatments. She noted that the Roadmap for Women's Rights and the new Gender Equality Strategy, presented in March, prioritise addressing this gap. The Commission will soon launch an initiative with the WHO to improve women's healthcare quality and access, and will work with the European Medicines Agency to explore gender-sensitive checks in medicines development. Through Horizon Europe, €220 million is being invested in women's health research. In February, the Commission responded positively to the Citizens' Initiative 'My Voice, My Choice', allowing EU funding through the European Social Fund+ to support access to safe and legal abortion services where Member States choose to use it.
Lahbib urged the Parliament to support health preparedness in the next EU budget, including through the Civil Protection Mechanism, the Union support instrument for health emergency preparedness, the European Competitiveness Fund, and Horizon Europe. She concluded that women's health is non-negotiable and that failing to invest in it costs both women and society.
The speech contained concrete proposals, including the Global Health Resilience Initiative, the WHO collaboration, the gender-sensitive check at EMA, and the €220 million research investment. It also reaffirmed existing commitments such as the Medical Countermeasures Strategy and the Health Threat Prioritisation Assessment. Lahbib's policy orientation pushes for increased EU-level coordination in health preparedness and a stronger focus on gender equity in healthcare, with a mix of new funding and institutional changes. The speech did not specify timelines for the new initiatives beyond 'soon'.
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