In May 2026, the European Commission adopted the Global Health Resilience Initiative (GHRI), setting out the EU’s renewed approach to responding to global health challenges, strengthening health systems and supporting partners’ health sovereignty.
The GHRI comes at a critical moment for global health. Health systems and communities around the world continue to face major pressures, while persistent inequalities affect people’s ability to access essential health services and realise their right to health.
The EU’s implementation of the GHRI should therefore contribute to building equitable, resilient and country-led health systems, while addressing unmet needs and the structural inequalities that shape health outcomes. It should also complement the EU’s Global Health Strategy (2022), reinforcing existing commitments.
Against this background, civil society organisations working to promote global health, the Global Health CSO Coalition, has developed 7 key recommendations on how the EU can support equitable, resilient and country-led health systems, address unmet health needs and tackle the structural inequalities that shape health outcomes:
- Put communities and the principle of leaving no one behind at the heart of global health resilience
- Ensure the EU builds on effective existing partnerships
- Commit to providing ambitious and sustained funding for global health
- Insist on ensuring a gender dimension to global health resilience
- Promote genuine health sovereignty and equitable partnerships with partner countries
- Recognise Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) as actors in global health resilience
- Request the establishment of a clear monitoring and implementation network
We urge EU decision-makers to reflect these recommendations in the forthcoming Council conclusions and in the next steps of the GHRI’s implementation.
;
