Global health: a fight against established gender inequalities and other contemporary challenges

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Lina Karagiovanni is a 2nd year medical student at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the acting Local Exchange Officer, one of the Local Committees of HelMSIC Greece. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

In 2026 the healthcare community, including medical personnel and the people serving the related political departments, will have to face multiple, variant issues, from previously poorly-managed problems to new, controversial policies and growing online trends. This landscape calls for the introduction and adoption of clear, non-negotiable global health priorities. As expected, there are a lot of different opinions regarding what the priorities in the healthcare world should be.

Starting off, I believe I have to address one timeless, still unresolved issue: Gender inequality in disease research and awareness.  Medical students need to be educated on less-talked about conditions that primarily or even exclusively affect women (and people assigned female at birth) and action should be taken towards pushing for better funding for studies on said diseases. Great examples would be endometriosis, underdiagnosed and underresearched, menopause-specific experiences and diseases with varying symptoms when studied between the sexes. As far as the representation of women’ struggles in healthcare goes, we still have a lot of work to do in 2026.

Moving on, I feel obligated to mention an unprecedented phenomenon that disproportionately impacts social media- inexperienced people, our older and youngest ones. All of us must have come across online health/diet influencers, untrained and uninformed individuals presenting themselves as experts and giving out advice, diet programs or even consumable products to gullible, unsuspecting viewers. This practice is especially prominent in my home country, Greece, as these content creators acquire hundreds of thousands of followers each, potentially damaging public health and generating distrust towards officially trained healthcare practitioners. I can’t help but think that the EU and other countries must consider implementing new, stricter and well-defined laws against online misinformation about health and diet, following examples of stricter regulatory approaches adopted in some countries, like China, that bring education back in the hands of trained people*.

Continuing on our policies encouraging the scientific approach of issues, I would call for the formation and public promotion of a very firm stance on policies regarding the prevention, management and battling of infectious diseases, putting emphasis on the importance of vaccination. I personally consider this very important as the public consensus may be influenced amid growing doubt, well-spread and multiple sourced misinformation and new US HHS vaccination guidelines*.

Lastly, I want to talk about humanity, compassion and empathy in our field.  During growing political and social tensions, it is important that medical education institutions provide students with the will and knowledge to treat people of different ethnicities and religions, migrants and even people that have infringed laws adequately. It is crucial that we do not stop offering a helping hand to groups that have been historically marginalized and ostracized communities, even if our surrounding reality undermines or underfunds this “hand”.

On an ending note, it is very clear to me that our global health priorities need a multidimensional approach: political, digital, educational and even charitable. I am hopeful that as a medical community we can tackle these very issues that I mentioned, as long as we stay active, interested and closely-working.

*As of October 2025, China has brought in laws requiring proof of related education from individuals who influence online viewers on important topics such as health, diet, economics and other issues.

*As of January 2026, the number of vaccines recommended in the childhood immunization schedule has been reduced from 13 to 7. The vaccines for Hepatitis A and B, among others, have been let go from the schedule.

About the author

Lina Karagiovanni is a 2nd year medical student at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the acting Local Exchange Officer, one of the Local Committees of HelMSIC Greece. She has an innate interest for the social and political aspect of practicing medicine, music and writing.