Background
EU4Health is the EU’s health programme which seeks to improve the experience of patients, improve health systems, as well as examining crises response a dn resilience, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Established by Regulation (EU) 2021/522, EU4Health will run between 2021-2027, with approximately EUR 5.1 billion of funding.
Objectives and focus
The 10 specific objectives under the 4 general goals are:
- To improve and foster health in the Union
- disease prevention & health promotion
- international health initiatives & cooperation
- To tackle cross-border health threats
- prevention, preparedness & response to cross-border health threats
- complementing national stockpiling of essential crisis-relevant products
- establishing a reserve of medical, healthcare & support staff
- To improve medicinal products, medical devices and crisis-relevant products
- making medicinal products, medical devices and crisis-relevant products available and affordable
- To strengthen health systems, their resilience and resource efficiency
- strengthening health data, digital tools & services, digital transformation of healthcare
- improving access to healthcare
- developing and implementing EU health legislation and evidence-based decision making
- integrated work among national health systems
EU4Health will pave the way to a European Health Union by investing in urgent health priorities:
- the response to the COVID-19 crisis and reinforcing the EU’s resilience for cross-border health threats
- Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, and
- the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe
Other areas, such as health systems’ digitalisation, reducing the number of antimicrobial-resistant infections and improving vaccination rates will also be boosted.
Further information on the EU4Health programme can be found at: https://ec.europa.eu/health/funding/eu4health_en