Health: Community action programme 2008-2013

The report focuses on the Health Programme’s implementation in 2013. This was the last year of the implementation of the Second Health Programme established by Decision 1350/2007/EC.

It provides detailed information on the 2013 budget and its execution. It includes tables which set out in detail all actions co-funded as well as the contracts.

While the detailed evaluation of the Second Health Programme will be forthcoming in 2015, this report gives a comprehensive overview of its implementation in 2013, highlighting several actions that came to an end that year.

Main objectives of the programme: the programme, with a total budget of EUR 321 500 000, provided a wide range of funding instruments in order to achieve its objectives. These were: actions co-financed with Member State authorities (‘joint actions’), projects, co-funding for conferences and operating grants to specifically support non-governmental organisations and networks, direct agreements with international organisations, public procurement and other actions.

The Second Health Programme’s main aim was to complement, support and add value to the policies of the Member States, and contribute to increased solidarity and prosperity in the European Union by protecting and promoting human health and safety and improving public health.

This aim was broken down into three specific objectives:

• to improve citizens’ health security,
• to promote health, including the reduction of health inequalities,
• to generate and disseminate health information and knowledge. 

Implementing actions: various actions were co-funded under each objective.

• In the area of health security, disease outbreaks do not respect borders. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that countries and communities across the EU are well prepared to respond to communicable and non-communicable diseases.
• In order to promote health, Member States and the EU have been able to help promote health and reduce health inequalities, including support towards increasing healthy life years and promoting healthy ageing. For example, the programme has helped to: (i) provide a better understanding of the issue of smoking uptake by young people and by women in particular, (ii) raise awareness on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, (iii) implement screening for cervical and colorectal cancers, and (iv) develop a worldwide online source of information on rare diseases.
• To disseminate health information, the programme has helped create synergies and improve evidence for policy making by developing and transferring health information and knowledge across the EU. Projects have also specifically supported innovation in health, including on improving understanding of how to set up electronic health records and introducing personalised medicine. In addition, the programme contributed to preparing, developing and implementing EU health policy action. Actions were funded focusing on implementing legislation, for instance in the fields of tobacco control and substances of human origin, on health inequalities, in support of the Commission strategy on, ‘Solidarity in Health: Reducing Health Inequalities in the EU’, and on cross-border health threats and patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. Lastly, in the area of health services, access to high quality and safe healthcare, together with sound scientific advice and risk assessment, contribute to patient safety in the EU.

Working with and providing support to a wide range of public health players: the programme contributed significantly to supporting health policy action at EU and Member State level and helped the Member States, stakeholders and the EU to develop effective policies for the benefit of EU citizens. Many scientists, experts, academics, patients and civil society organisations came together under different themes to pool resources and knowledge to innovate and to provide added value for EU citizens. In total, 30 were co-funded for more than EUR 60 million. They covered themes as wide-ranging as rare diseases, health technology assessment and health workforce.

Important civil society stakeholders were supported through the operating grant instrument.

By co-funding pan-EU conferences, the programme enabled European exchanges and provided additional communication and dissemination opportunities. Nearly 150 pan-EU projects, financially supported with more than 100 million euros, allowed the European public health community to develop, test and implement a vast range of tools such as handbooks, guidelines and inventories to contribute to achieving the programme’s objectives.