15 Dec 2020 | News
New €5.1B health programme due to start in 2021
EU4Health aims to boost innovation in the health sector, help member states ditch paper records and make digitised health systems interoperable
The EU’s new health programme will start in January with a budget of €5.1 billion, the EU Council and the European Parliament agreed on Monday.
EU4Health, proposed by the European Commission in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to increase the resilience of health systems and to help ensure the EU applies research results and supports translation of health innovation into clinical practice.
In a budget proposal published in May, the Commission said EU4Health should get €9.4 billion over the next seven years, but that was watered down to €1.7 billion during the July summit of EU leaders. In the final reckoning, member states agreed to a compromise budget of €5.1 billion.