“The field-to-shelf strategy must become a common motto for all of us. To judge based on sustainability and consumption, i.e. what we buy”, she said during her speech at the Eighth Sustainability Summit for SE Europe & the Mediterranean – Re-inventing green leadership: Collectivity vs fragmentation? of Economist Impact) the Deputy Minister of Health Irini Agapidaki.

He added that the government is trying to change this sector and implement the strategy of unified health, that is, how the way we live, our crops, our health, our well-being are connected.

In the coming years, said Ms. Agapidaki, the results of this policy will be more visible.

“I am happy to serve a government that does not only see tomorrow and the immediate political benefit, we also look at the long-term,” noted the Deputy Minister of Health. He specifically referred to the programs for prevention, which he said will pay off in the future and then we will have improved health indicators.

Regarding the climate crisis, Mrs. Agapidaki noted that it disproportionately affects the poorest households. “If you have worse health and are experiencing the effects of the climate crisis you are essentially trapped in a vicious circle where poverty feeds back into worse health.”

Breaking this vicious circle, he added, “we invest in these policies, either in prevention, or in the primary sector, or in public health issues so that we don’t leave anyone unprotected.”

Mrs. Agapidaki referred to Thessaly where people were faced with difficulties and diseases due to the floods and in fact the vulnerable populations had even greater effects because, as she said, “the climate crisis is class-based”.