On March 18th, 2021, the Globalisation and Development (GAD) Programme held the first guest lecture of the GAD International Organisations Lecture Series 2022. Upon the invitation of Professor Kwok Cho Tang – also in charge of GAD’s “International Organisations” ME course - Prof. Meri Koivusalo, Professor of Global Health and Development of Tampere University, current member of the WHO Expert Panel on Science and Technology, delivered a lecture to students on the topic of “The European Union (EU) and its Health Policies”.

Prof. Meri Koivusalo

During the lecture, held online due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, Prof. Koivusalo provided an overview of the EU in terms of its organisation, functions, contributions, as well as its governance, with a particular emphasis on its health policies.

By using Health in All Policies (HiAP) and Covid-19 as examples, Prof. Koivusalo specifically discussed the challenges and controversies regarding the complex relationship between the EU and its member states in the adoption of the HiAP approach and the prevention and control of Covid-19.

During the Q&A session, moderated by GAD’s Assistant Professor Dr. Michal Vavrik and Assistant Instructor Ms. Sun Yuan, Mr. Frank Chen, Year 3 student of GAD, asked for more information about possible Covid-19 coping strategies, to which Prof. Koivusalo stated that approaches have to keep into consideration various contextual factors, so there is no single, universal approach that will fit and work everywhere, in the exact same way: health crises, related needs and policies should be conceived and judged on a case-by case basis.

Prof. Koivusalo has expertise in global and transnational health and social policy, trade and global governance for health. She has co-authored and edited numerous academic articles and textbooks in the area of global health as well as worked with Finnish government, European Commission, WHO-Geneva, UNRISD and a number of international nongovernmental organisations.

The GAD Programme thanks Prof. Koivusalo for her contribution and hopes to welcome her to UIC in person one day soon!