Adoption of the 3rd Health Programme for 2014-2020

On last 26 February, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposal for the 3rd Health Programme for 2014-2020. Now, the Council must agree. However, the main lines of the programme are already known.

This 3rd Health programme aims to complement the health policies of EU Member States and to encourage cooperation between them. On the contrary to the two previous programmes, this is more focused on the realisation of the objectives of the strategy Europe 2020. Indeee, the twenty-three priorities defined for health must enable the European Union to achieve a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth thanks to a healthier population. Health is also an investment sector for employment and innovation. This area represents, indeed, 10% of the EU’s Gross Domestic Product and employs one in ten workers.

In order to achieve these goals, the programme “Health for Growth” has been defined around four high theme:
1 – promotion of health and prevent diseases. This section will finance promotion and prevention measures about the fight against tobacco, physical inactivity or unhealthy dietary habits. It will support actions for detection and management of chronic diseases such as cancer.

2 – citizens protection from serious cross-border health threats. This objective aims to improve legislation, risk assessment by providing additional capacities for scientific expertise or cooperation with neighboring countries.

3 – supporting public health capacity building and innovative, efficient and sustainable health systems by identifying and developing tools to fight against shortages of human and financial resources for example.

4 – facilitating access to better and safer healthcare for citizens thanks to the European Reference Network or easier medical literacy.

New indicators have been implemented in order to verify the impact of this programme on the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy.

The budget for 2014-2020 for the 3rd Health Programme is 449 394 000 euro. The financed actions will be the same as in the previous health programmes. The European Union provides so subsides for joint actions, ie co-financed by the authorities responsible for public health in the Member State, as well as projects co-financed by public, private or non-governmental bodies. The Commissions awards grants for the functioning of the non-governmental organisations too. The rate of participation for the EU will be 60% and can reach 80% in specific cases.

This programme will be implemented by the Consumer, Health and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA). The annual work programme 2014 should be published in April even on the beginning of May. The call for proposals will follow.