The European Union allocates over EUR 4.6 million to Ukraine for healthcare projects under the EU4Health program

A year after the signing of the agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on Ukraine’s participation in the EU4Health program, the Ministry of Health has applied for participation in 9 projects. The European Commission approved Ukraine’s participation in them and confirmed more than EUR 4.6 million in total funding for their implementation.

In particular, we are talking about the following projects:

• 1. Prevention of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
• 2. Prevention and monitoring of cancer and other non-communicable diseases.
• 3. Strengthening infection control in hospitals and among healthcare workers.
• 4. Improving the diagnosis of rare diseases and sharing experience in their treatment between EU countries.
• 5. Training of specialists in the control of medicines and medical devices in EU standards, as well as the latest methods of treatment and evaluation of medical technologies.
• 6. Implementation of the European system for assessing the safety of human blood, tissues, and cells.
• 7. Integration of the Ukrainian eHealth system into the EU’s single electronic healthcare system.
• 8. Interaction between EU countries to jointly set priorities, goals, and measures to improve the global health of EU citizens.
• 9. Strengthening the system of response to and surveillance of cross-border threats.

“The EU4Health agreement, which was signed a year ago, allows Ukraine’s healthcare system to integrate into the European space. It provides significant funding at the European Union level to support medical systems and public health initiatives. This will help to increase the level of access to medical services for Ukrainians and develop a system for early diagnosis of non-communicable diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases,” said Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Ihor Kuzin. 

Currently, preparations are underway to sign grant agreements between the participating countries and the European Commission, with projects scheduled to start at the end of this year or early next year, and the average duration of these projects is 2-4 years.

“Our cooperation with the EU institutions is constantly growing. Thanks to programs such as EU4Health, Ukraine already has the opportunity to participate in the development of joint policies with the European Union, even at the candidate stage. That is, thanks to this program, we are implementing sectoral integration in parallel with the implementation of EU requirements and standards. We are already involved in planning and solving common problems on the way to protecting and improving the health of Ukrainian citizens as integral members of the community of European countries, said Maryna Slobodnichenko, Deputy Minister for European Integration.

From Ukraine, 5 projects will be implemented by the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and 4 more by Okhmatdyt, the Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Center, the State Enterprise “Electronic Health” and the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

In addition to the joint action grants implemented by EU governments, non-governmental organizations and businesses can also receive funding for initiatives under the EU4Health program.

“EU4Health provides an equal opportunity for all participating countries and Ukraine in particular to receive grant funding for both government agencies and civil society organizations. The Center for Public Health, as the national coordinator, conducts consultations to explain the requirements of the European Commission and explain how to properly prepare applications for participation in open calls. By the way, the next such webinar will take place next week, on 21 July,” said Olha Hvozdetska, Deputy Director General of the Public Health Center, EU4Health National Coordinator in Ukraine.

As part of the EU4Health-2023 work program, 12 open calls for proposals have been announced to finance initiatives and programs in the following areas: equal access to health care, mental health, non-communicable diseases, oncology, and medical equipment. The total budget of the open calls is almost EUR 20 million. They can be applied for by scientific and educational institutions, research institutes, hospitals, private medical institutions, public and patient organizations. The application deadline is 17 October 2023.

For reference: The EU4Health program was created by EU member states to provide annual funding for a number of priority areas in health care in the EU and its member states. EU4Health is the fourth and largest EU health program and will run from 2021 to 2027.

The EU4Health program was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen crisis preparedness in the EU and aims to contribute to addressing long-term health challenges by building stronger, more resilient and more accessible health systems.

The priorities of the program include prevention in health care, fighting COVID-19, digitalization of health care, fighting cancer, fighting bacterial resistance, and improving access to quality medicines and medical devices.

In July 2022, the European Commission signed an agreement on Ukraine’s accession to the EU4Health program. This enables Ukraine to receive funding for healthcare improvement projects on equal terms with EU member states, Norway, and Iceland.

The total budget of the program for 2021-2027 is EUR 5.3 billion. EU4Health is implemented through annual work programs. The first three work programs have already been approved, bringing the amount of available funding to more than EUR 1.88 billion (EUR 311.8 million for 2021, EUR 835.5 million for 2022, EUR 735.8 million for 2023).