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Public Health

EU4Health programme 2021-2027 – a vision for a healthier European Union

The EU4Health programme was adopted as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to reinforce crisis preparedness in the EU. The pandemic highlighted the fragility of national health systems. The EU4Health programme will bring a contribution to the long-term health challenges by building stronger, more resilient and more accessible health systems.

Health is an investment and, with an initial €5.3 billion budget for the 2021-27 period, reduced to €4.4 billion following the revision of the 2021-2027 MFF, the EU4Health programme is an unparalleled EU financial support in the health area. EU4Health is a clear message that public health is a priority for the EU and it is one of the main instruments to pave the way to a European Health Union.

Established by Regulation (EU) 2021/522, EU4Health brings an EU added value and complements the policies of the Member States to pursue four general objective representing the ambitions of the programme and ten specific objectives representing the areas of intervention:

  • Improve and foster health
    • Health promotion and disease prevention, in particular cancer
    • International health initiatives and cooperation
  • Protect people
    • Prevention, preparedness and response to cross-border health threats
    • Complementing national stockpiling of essential crisis-relevant products
    • Establishing a reserve of medical, healthcare and support staff
  • Access to medicinal products, medical devices and crisis-relevant products
    • Ensuring that these products are accessible, available and affordable
  • Strengthen health systems
    • Reinforcing health data, digital tools and services, digital transformation of healthcare
    • Enhancing access to healthcare
    • Developing and implementing EU health legislation and evidence-based decision making
    • Integrated work among national health systems

Objectives of the EU4Health programme

EU4Health and the European Health Union

EU4Health will pave the way to a European Health Union by investing in urgent health priorities:

Other areas, such as health systems’ digitalisation, reducing the number of antimicrobial-resistant infections and improving vaccination rates will also be boosted.

The EU will expand successful initiatives like the European Reference Networks for rare diseases and continue to pursue international cooperation on global health threats and challenges.

Work programmes

EU4Health is implemented by annual Work Programmes supporting a broad range of actions that are clustered under four overarching “strands” with a cross-cutting focus on cancer.

  • Crisis preparedness
  • Health promotion & disease prevention
  • Health systems & healthcare workforce
  • Digital

The programme provides funding to eligible entities, health organisations and NGOs from EU countries, or non-EU countries associated to the programme.

Actors involved

A targeted Stakeholders’ consultation took place between 22 April and 10 June 2024. A Stakeholders’ event was organised on 19 June 2024. As a result, the following document was produced:

Many actors are necessary to make EU4Health a reality:

  • EU countries are consulted on the priorities and strategic orientations of the programme and work together with the Commission in the ‘EU4Health Steering Group’ to ensure consistency and complementarity with national health policies. They provide their opinion in the EU4Health Programme Committee before the adoption of the annual work programmes.
  • Third countries associated to the EU4Health programme participate in the consultation process and observe the work of the EU4Health Steering Group and Programme Committee. They benefit of the funding as any other EU country.
  • Stakeholders including representatives of civil society and patients’ associations, academics and organisations of healthcare professionals, provide input on priorities and strategic orientations and on the needs to be addressed through the annual work programme.
  • The European Parliament is informed about the progress of the preparatory work and outreach activities with stakeholders.
  • The European Commission prepares, adopts and implements the annual work programmes, and monitors and reports on the progress regarding fulfilment of the programme objectives. It may also seek the views of relevant decentralised agencies and of independent experts in the field of health on technical or scientific matters of relevance for the implementation of the programme.
  • The Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) implements the programme.

Associated non-EU countries

Norway, Iceland, Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina are associated to the EU4Health Programme. 

The association and participation of Norway and Iceland (EFTA countries) to the EU4Health Programme is governed by the Protocol 31 on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (OJ No L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3). The European Commission signed an association agreement with authorities from Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina that opens access to EU funding for these countries.

Funding & Tenders

Funding opportunities under the EU4Health Programme are published by the Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Please frequently visit HaDEA’s pages on calls for proposals and calls for tenders.

Synergies and complementarities with other funds

Health challenges are cross-cutting by nature. EU4Health works together with other Union programmes, policies, instruments and actions:

Programme monitoring and evaluation

Programme performance and monitoring evaluation framework

 The EU4Health Programme performance monitoring and evaluation framework (PPMEF) includes the intervention logic, a set of sound indicators to collect data, the monitoring, reporting and evaluation arrangements, and the data, information and knowledge management. The EU4Health PPMEF was developed in line with the monitoring and evaluation provisions of the EU4Health Regulation.

Annual Programme performance monitoring and reporting

The Programme Performance Statement, as part of the Commission’ s strategic planning and programming cycle, is a key tool for annual reporting on the results achieved, challenges encountered and areas for possible improvement. It includes concrete examples of achievements, the rationale and design of the annual work programme, the contribution to the Commission’s general priorities, and the budget performance implementation and outcomes.

Interim and final evaluation

The European Commission will carry out interim and final evaluation of EU4Health Programme. The Commission will publish and communicate the conclusions of both the interim and final evaluations, accompanied by its observations, to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

More information

Previous Health Programmes

Since 2003, EU health programmes have generated knowledge and evidence as a basis for informed policymaking and further research. This includes best practice, tools, and methodologies that benefitted both the public health community and citizens directly (e.g. improving diagnostic tests, supporting EU countries in developing national actions plans on cancer, improving patient care).