In today's time of globalization and global environmental change, nations are increasingly vulnerable to emerging global health threats. This does not only include a substantially faster spread of diseases from one side of the globe to the other but also an increased trade of substances, which have an impact on population health (e.g. alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals). In addition, it has been widely acknowledged that global environmental changes can have a direct effect on population health (e.g. increased risks of heat waves and floods) and also through more ‘indirect’ and more complex mechanisms (e.g. lower food security through agricultural changes). These issues often transcend borders and national policies are only effective to a limited extent, as the determining factors lie beyond the national boundaries. While it may be too early to proclaim a paradigm shift from national to global (public) health, it can be stated with confidence that the global dimension of health will need to be more prominently addressed in the near future to protect population health. Currently, it can be observed that debates on global health increasingly materialize in academic- as well as in political debates on foreign policy, health strategies, development cooperation and global public goods. Global Health has received high level attention in international bodies (e.g. UN,WHO) as well as at national level through the development of national global health strategies. Many countries in Europe are becoming more active in their approaches to global health and also at the EU level, a common strategy for global health has been drafted. The legitimacy for the EU to act on global health is due to the fact that the EU Member States and the European Commission are collectively the world's leading trading bloc, the largest importer of food as well as donor of development and humanitarian assistance. However, although the EU has formulated a global health strategy that includes priorities, objectives and challenges for global health, there is still some degree of ambiguity on how this will unfold in the near future. To resolve this, more knowledge needs to be created that describes better the different facets and implications of such an approach. This session will address the many facets of global health from a European perspective. Speakers from European institutions (universities, research institutes and public health associations) will address various issues, including the need for an additional clarification of what global health entails (conceptualization), what needs to be done to address global health challenges (research & capacity building) and how this will unfold in practice (example: Syndromic Surveillance). It is foreseen that all presentations take into consideration the European (EU) perspective and link it to current European / African relations as well as provide an outlook on how this relationship can unfold under the currently debated global health approach. Through this, the session will contribute to a better understanding of global health from a European perspective. What is Global Health according to the European understanding? What is the role of the EU in global health and what could this look like in practice? These are important questions that despite the increasing momentum for global health have not yet been sufficiently addressed.