On March 26, the European Commission announced the entry into force of the new EU4Health Programme to support the resilience and innovation of health systems across Europe throughout the period 2021-2027. With a budget of EUR 5.1 billion for investments in the health sector, the EU4Health 2021-2027 programme is financially the largest health programme ever launched!
The adoption of the new EU4Health programme comes at a time when health systems and industries across the world have faced unparalleled threats, and it embodies the EU’s long-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As stated by the European Commission Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides: “The entry into force of our EU4Health Programme will give us the tools at hand to make long-standing changes in public health. This unprecedented budget of €5.1 billion will enable us to make targeted investments to enhance our crisis preparedness and build stronger, more resilient and more accessible health systems. This is what our citizens rightfully expect from a European Health Union” (European Commission – Press Release, Brussels, 26/03/2021).
Key actions under the new EU4Health programme
EU4Health 2021-2027 will provide investments for ambitious actions that will contribute to the development of resilient, unified, innovative and accessible healthcare across Europe.
- Boost EU’s preparedness for major cross-border health threats, by creating
- reserves of medical supplies for crises
- a reserve of healthcare staff and experts that can be mobilised to respond to the crises across the EU
- Increased surveillance of health threats
- Strengthen health systems so that they can face epidemics as well as long-term challenges by stimulating
- disease prevention and health promotion in an ageing population
- digital transformation of health systems
- access to health care for vulnerable groups
- Make medicines and medical devices available and affordable, advocate the prudent and efficient use of antimicrobials as well as promote medical and pharmaceutical innovation and greener manufacturing
(EU4Health 2021-2027 – A vision for a healthier European Union)
To implement the new health programme, the EU established a dedicated new executive agency, the Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) operating since April 1.
Future Calls
Calls for projects under the new EU4Health Programme have not been published yet. Updates will be made available by the European Commission in the dedicate webpage. The AER will inform its members and other stakeholders whenever a call for project is launched and will provide support for partner searches. Additionally, the AER is willing to continue its work and contribute with its expertise in the health sector by joining a consortium as partner with particular regard to digital health, management and capacity-building in the healthcare sector.
Additional Funding
Additional funding for health policies will be provided through other programmes making the total funding amount up to 9.4 billion. Funding programmes are:
- The European Fund for Regional Development to improve regional health infrastructures
- The European Social Fund+ to support vulnerable groups’ access to healthcare
- Horizon Europe to support research in the health sector
- Digital Europe to foster digital infrastructures and digital health tools
- rescEU – EU emergency response to create stockpiles for emergency health supplies
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with the AER project Unit!
Contact: Birgit Sandu (b.sandu@aer.eu)
Photo from Unsplash @nci
