Before the summer, IDF Europe conducted a major outreach campaign to the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on the proposed EU4Health Programme.
In the wake of COVID-19, the EU4Health programme, the scope and funding of which, will be further discussed in the autumn aims at
- boosting EU preparedness for major cross-border health threats;
- strengthening health systems; and
- making medicines and medical devices available and affordable.
The programme represents a step change in EU’s approach to health, and signals its ambition to truly place health at the heart of EU policy to protect EU citizens and build resilient health systems in Europe.In response to the Commission’s Proposal and the European Parliament’s draft report, IDF Europe shared its views with DG Santé and a number of MEPs on the need to:
- Learn from the COVID-19 crisis and integrate these learnings for a transformation of the European health systems in the recovery and repair phase as well as to build stronger and more resilient systems in the long term.
- Focus on the risk reduction and optimal management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) if Europe is to have resilient health systems.
- Place people at the centre of all EU health policies and enshrine this as the overarching goal of the EU4Health programme.
- Promote a consistently high level of access to care, medicines, and technologies for all EU citizens as a pre-requisite to remaining the healthiest region in the world and reducing health inequalities.
IDF Europe’s considerations on the text and proposed amendments, which takes into account comments received following consultation with our Members, can be found here.
