We live in an era of overlapping crises. Pandemics, armed conflicts, climate emergencies, and economic instability no longer unfold in isolation, but they collide, amplify each other, and demand responses that cross boundaries. Yet for most of modern history, peacebuilding has been viewed as the exclusive domain of diplomats and politicians, while healthcare professionals have played a secondary role.
This is the gap PEACE-MED was built to close.
Recent evidence shows that health programmes can make a significant impact in promoting peace, addressing health inequalities in conflict zones and fostering social cohesion. They can build trust where none exists, open corridors of communication between opposing sides, and lay the groundwork for dialogue in places where conventional diplomacy has failed. The World Health Organization's Global Health and Peace Initiative (GHPI), launched in 2019, recognises the health sector as a key contributor to peace and resilience. Today, with the war in Ukraine constituting Europe's largest ongoing humanitarian emergency, and crises in Gaza, Sudan, Cuba, and beyond continuing to displace and devastate populations, the question is no longer whether health professionals have a role in peacebuilding. The question is how to prepare them for it.
Health diplomacy, standing at the intersection of health interventions and diplomatic processes, offers a powerful answer. It does not have a single fixed definition, but its purpose is clear: to use health as a bridge, building trust across divides, reducing inequalities, and advancing cooperation between governments, international organisations, communities, and the people who care for them.
PEACE-MED (EU Peace-Building Health Diplomacy) is a Jean Monnet Chair of Professor Emmanouil Pikoulis at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Medical School. Its aim is to train a new generation of healthcare professionals who don't just treat patients but also know how to help build peace and resilience.
The Chair takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining education, research, and dissemination to prepare students and early career healthcare professionals who are equipped to act as peacemakers. Leveraging Athens' strategic position as a city at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, PEACE-MED aims to become a regional and global leader in health diplomacy education.
All activities are designed in line with the foundational values of the European Union: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.
Specific Objectives:
