The Council and the European Parliament have reached an agreement on the amount of funds that will be allocated to the “EU4Health” program in order to better prepare the Union’s health systems to face future threats.
After long and difficult negotiations, the new “EU4Health” program will finally have a budget of 5.1 billion euros for the period 2021-2027. The program will invest in health promotion measures and disease prevention and will prepare European health systems to face future health threats, explains the European Parliament in a statement.
The concluded agreement will contribute to creating a stockpile of useful products in the event of a health crisis, such as essential medicines, vaccines, and medical devices.
A Cross-Border System
One of the main objectives of the “EU4Health” program is to better prepare the Union to face major cross-border health threats, not only to tackle future epidemics but also to confront long-term challenges, such as an aging population and health inequalities.
To this end, the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority will be established. Its goal will be to help provide, at the EU level, a better response to cross-border health threats, and it will receive funding from the program.
The program will also support communication actions aimed at promoting disease prevention, a healthy lifestyle, and combating misinformation, the statement emphasizes. 20% of the total program budget will be dedicated to health promotion and disease prevention, particularly targeting health risks like harmful alcohol and tobacco consumption.
The EU must find ways to revive the production of medicines and pharmaceutical substances in Europe to encourage the development of less environmentally harmful medicines and medical devices, thus avoiding the recurrence of the current shortage in the future. The digitization of healthcare, including support for the creation of a European Health Data Space, is also part of the agreement.
