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 and 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