How to harvest long-term health benefits of the EU4Health programme?

It should be designed and implemented in a way that drives public health goals, tackles inequalities and achieves long-term health system innovation and strengthening.

They can voice the lived experience and needs of the populations they represent, including patients, healthcare professionals, caregivers, public health professionals and ordinary people. Therefore their role in determining the direction health systems should be taking is also key. As such, they can help co-design the priorities of the programme and can be key partners in its implementation. A sustainable, accessible and transparent. funding scheme should therefore be constructed in order to effectively guide and equip civil society organisations to immediately deliver on the goals of the EU4Health Programme.

 while strengthening education and training for future-ready healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers both for prevention, disease management, behavioural and coping skills, as well as recovery. Emergency preparedness, behavioural and coping skills are particularly relevant in this context.

but attention should also go towards ensuring positive impact from the EU4Health programme is delivered for other disease areas.

and develop the infrastructure to provide help to those in need. Many patients suffer from several diseases (co-morbidities) and often chronic conditions such as respiratory diseases, which typically share the same risk factors.

such as Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, ESF+ and structural funds, to mobilise resources and to ensure more health investment and avoid duplication and inefficient spending. The EU4Health programme should be designed in line with a health-in-all-policies approach, to facilitate coherence with other key policies at EU level (e.g. research, agriculture, education, social, environment, employment).This could also give priority to projects that establish collaborations between projects funded by different – or the same – programmes in order to avoid duplication of work and to already use evidence-informed strategies. This will save resources and provide better outcome

will be key to ensure efficient, well-designed and thoroughly evaluated use of resources, also in coordination with the abovementioned EU programmes and policies. Public interest health civil society organisations, including patient organisations, should be meaningfully involved in an inclusive and integrated way in designing and implementing the EU4health programme throughout its implementation, including monitoring mechanisms.

can play a crucial role in strengthening health systems, improving healthcare quality in Europe and promoting effective disease self-management. The EU4Health programme should play a crucial role in improving data sharing, compatibility and inter-operability at European level, both for communicable and non-communicable diseases, streamlining the implementation of tools such as Electronic Health Records, e-Prescriptions, and patient registries.

is fundamental to improve the public health capability at European level and achieve the long-term objectives of the EU4Health programme. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught painful lessons about the need to urgently address this issue.