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Do trade and investment agreements protect public health and universal health coverage?

Tampere University
Duration of project1.9.2024–31.12.2026
Area of focusHealth, Society

The European Union (EU) is committed to ensuring high levels of health protection in all policies. Health in All policies and developing an Economy of Wellbeing are on Finnish and EU agendas. However, progress has been limited in trade-related negotiations and areas where commercial interests are at stake. Our research will examine and assess the extent to which EU has addressed health in trade and investment policy arenas. We will use trade-related documents, interviews, and dialogue workshops for comparative analyses, examining processes and practice of health impact assessments of trade agreements as well as the scope and limits of gender, labour and sustainability chapters to address health. We will analyse potential alternatives utilising post-pandemic negotiations on pandemic preparedness, prevention, response and recovery with regards to public health policy and planning and equitable access to vaccines. Applying bioethics principles and frameworks, we seek to develop new tools to explicate and better balance conflicts between health and trade priorities. We welcome suggestions, interests and collaborations.

Project team

Professor Meri Koivusalo, Global Health & Development (Health Sciences Unit, Tampere University)

Professor Salla Atkins, Public Health, especially Global Health, (Health Sciences Unit, Tampere University)

Professor Anita Katharina Wagner (Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute)

Professor Alison McCallum (Visiting Professor of Public Health, Centre for Population Health Sciences, Usher Institute, Usher Building, The University of Edinburgh)

Professor Abbe Brown (Professor in Intellectual Property Law, School of Law, University of Aberdeen)

Ms. Chloe Stephenson (Doctoral Researcher, Health Sciences Unit, Tampere University)

Ms. Lynda Gilby (Doctoral Researcher, Global Health and Development, Tampere University)

Dr. Corrado Piroddi (Post Doctoral Fellow, History, Philosophy, and Literature Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University)

Dr. Amitabha Sarkar (Public Health Fellow, Health Sciences Unit, Tampere University)

Funding

Research Council of Finland