Public Health

Without effective countermeasures, one chronic disease is projected to cause 50 percent more deaths in 2015 than it did in 2006 -- 80 percent more in affluent nations -- according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Diabetes, which WHO estimates causes about 5 percent of all deaths globally each year, affects 246 million people worldwide. It likely will affect 380 million by 2025, says the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), a worldwide alliance of diabetes associations in more than 160 countries. In the United States, 20.8 million people have diabetes, 6.2 million of them not yet diagnosed. In 2007 the United States joined India, China, Russia and Germany as one of the nations with the largest numbers of diabetics. Despite the statistics, many health and medical experts believe good information and proper care can allow people with diabetes or those at increased risk of developing the disease to lead long, healthy lives. Research also suggests that diabetes, like many chronic diseases, can be prevented. An ongoing international research project on the environmental determinants of diabetes in the young (the TEDDY study) focuses on type 1 diabetes. The project aims to identify environmental factors that trigger type 1 diabetes. This study involves six groups of researchers in the United States, Germany, Sweden and Finland who follow children at a genetically higher-than-average risk for diabetes.

2008: U.S.-UK Announcement on Health and Health Workers (Apr 18, 2008) | Diabetes Threatens Lives Worldwide (Apr 10, 2008)

(left to right) European Commission Director Frans de Bruine, Robert Kolodner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Michael Maibach of the European-American Business Council address the press during the EU-U.S. eHealth Policy Workshop in Brussels, Belgium, on May 10, 2007. Photo: Jeannine Johnson Maia, U.S. Mission to the EUOver 100 representatives of the U.S. government, the European Commission, EU member states and industry executives gathered in Brussels on May 10, 2007, for the first U.S.-EU eHealth policy workshop, sponsored by the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in conjunction with the European American Business Council. Head of the U.S. delegation Robert Kolodner, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, European Commission Director General for the Information Society and Media Fabio Colasanti, and Charles Scatchard, Vice President Health Sciences at Oracle were among those who discussed the U.S. and EU eHealth agendas and industry’s response to the challenges presented by the development of healthcare practices supported by computers and the Internet.

2007: International Health Ministers Plan for Global Preparedness (Nov 7, 2007) | International Collaboration Can Improve Product Safety (Oct 23, 2007) | U.S., EU Strengthen Cooperation in Food Safety Science (Jul 2, 2007) | U.S. Support to Europe for Combating Avian and Pandemic Influenza (Jun 7, 2007) | U.S., EU Hold First eHealth Policy Workshop (May 10, 2007) | U.S. Comments on EU's "Metric-Only" Labeling Directive (Feb 28, 2007)

(Left to right) Belgian chef Yves Mattagne, European Commissioner Kyprianou and U.S. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Azar prepare a fish during a cooking demonstration that was part of a U.S.-EU conference on diet, physical activity and health in Brussels on May 11, 2006. Photo: Jeannine Johnson Maia

What can the EU and the U.S. learn from each other on tackling obesity? Can industry self-regulation work? These and other topics were discussed May 11-12, 2006, at an EU-U.S. conference in Brussels hosted by the Commission and addressing diet, physical activity and health. The conference brought together officials, the food and drinks industry, advertisers, NGOs and representatives of civil society from the EU and U.S. to compare good practices and set the basis for future cooperation on topics such as advertising, labeling and consumer education. Keynote speakers included Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, the Austrian Minister for Health and Women Maria Rauch-Kallat,  the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras (Majoras remarks; Azar remarks).

2006: U.S.-EU Summit Declaration (Jun 21, 2006) | EU, U.S. Exchange Good Practices on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (May 11, 2006) | HHS Deputy Secretary Azar at Brussels conference on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (May 12, 2006)  | FTC's Majoras on Food Marketing, Self-Regulation, and Childhood Obesity (May 11, 2006) | FDA Statement on European Aspartame Study (May 8, 2006) | WTO Upholds U.S. Challenge to European Ban on Biotech Food (Feb 8, 2006)

2005: United States Seeks New Powers To Control Disease at Borders (Nov 23, 2005) | U.S. Efforts Under Way To Study Bird Flu in Migratory Birds (Oct 28, 2005)

2004: European Union, United States Allied in Fight Against HIV/AIDS (Jun 27, 2004)

2001: USTR Background Paper on IPR and Health (Nov 13, 2001)