EU4Health Programme

EU4Health Programme is sponsored by European Commission. The EU's largest health programme, investing over €5 billion to improve health in the Union, including funding for antimicrobial resistance projects.

EU4Health programme 2021-2027 – a vision for a healthier European Union - 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 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: response to the COVID-19 crisis and reinforcing the EU’s resilience for cross-border health threats Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan 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.

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. 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.

Health promotion & disease prevention Health systems & healthcare workforce The programme provides funding to eligible entities, health organisations and NGOs from EU countries, or non-EU countries associated to the programme. A targeted Stakeholders’ consultation took place between 4 August and 30 September 2025.

As a result, the following document was produced: EU4Health Stakeholders Consultation 2025 – Report 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 , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Republic of Serbia that opens access to EU funding for these countries. The Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) EU4Health is one of the 11 EU programmes contributing to the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) .

One of the STEP objectives is to help projects access funding under several EU instruments. This is notably facilitated by the STEP Seal , a new quality label awarded to promising projects that applied to specific calls for proposals under some of the EU STEP programmes, including EU4Health. Projects awarded the STEP Seal, including under EU4Health, can be found here .

To learn more about STEP, please check the STEP Portal . Synergies and complementarities with other funds Health challenges are cross-cutting by nature.

EU4Health works together with other Union programmes, policies, instruments and actions: European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to support vulnerable groups in accessing healthcare European Regional and Development Fund to improve regional health infrastructure Horizon Europe for health research Union Civil Protection Mechanism / rescEU to create stockpiles for emergency medical supplies Digital Europe and Connecting Europe Facility for creating the digital infrastructure needed for digital health Recovery and Resilience Facility Emergency Support Instrument 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 EU4Health PPS published in 2024 EU4Health PPS published in 2023 EU4Health PPS published in 2022 Interim and final evaluation The European Commission finalised the interim evaluation of EU4Health Programme on 25 November 2025.

The conclusions of the interim evaluation, accompanied by the Commission’s observations, were published and communicated to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. EU4Health interim evaluation The final evaluation of EU4Health Programme is due by 31 December 2031.

Regulation (EU) 2021/522 establishing a Programme for the Union’s action in the field of health (‘EU4Health Programme’) for the period 2021-2027 Press release: Commission welcomes entry into force of EU4Health programme Questions and Answers: EU4Health Programme 2021-2027 Press release: Commission welcomes political agreement on EU4Health EU4Health proposal (and annexes) MFF 2021-2027 Communication 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).

3 rd EU health Programme (2014-2020) 2 nd EU health programme (2008-2013) 1 st EU health programme (2003-2007) EU4Health 2027: consultation on priorities Presentation and recording - EUHPP Live Webinar : Results of the EU4Health action on digital skills of health workers (3 March 2026, 14. 30-16.

30 CET) EU grants access to funding for the Republic of Serbia under the EU4Health programme Commission publishes interim evaluation of EU4Health Programme Association agreement with Ukraine Association agreement with Ukraine Association agreement with Moldova Association agreement with Moldova Association Agreement with Montenegro Association Agreement with Montenegro Association Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina Association Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina Association Agreement with Republic of Serbia Association Agreement with Republic of Serbia