Interim evaluation of the cornerstone of the European Health Union: EU4Health

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fragility of national health systems. 70% of Europeans want more EU in health. The European Commission designed EU4Health to cultivate a more resilient health systems across the EU, while supporting policy priorities underpinning the Commission’s vision for a European Health Union. Ecorys will analyse the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and EU-added value of EU4Health.

The global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted structural vulnerabilities in public health. Moreover, the surge in demand for COVID-related services disrupted a wide range of non-COVID healthcare, impeding access to routine care for chronic diseases. Simultaneously, the pandemic accelerated innovation in vaccine development and transformative changes in healthcare service delivery.

It is now widely precepted that citizens have placed health first among their priorities, resulting in an anticipation of stronger action from European institutions. This anticipation is rooted in the protection of citizen’s health and wellbeing in a new context. In direct response to the urgent need for a harmonised approach to health crises, the Commission launched the European Health Union.

EU4Health was established as part of the broader European Health Union and is underpinned by collaborative strategies and cohesive policies that elevate health and wellbeing across the continent. EU4Health prioritises key areas of action, including enhancing crisis preparedness within the EU, building health system resilience, and tackling inequitable health outcomes.

The EU4Health programme will bring a contribution to the long-term health challenges by building stronger, more resilient and more accessible health systems. In the next half a year, Ecorys together with Technopolis will carry out the interim evaluation of EU4Health. Through desk and field research, surveys, targeted interviews and focus groups meetings, Ecorys will analyse the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and EU-added value of EU4Health.This will contribute to the reporting of the European Commission to the European Parliament and the European Council.

The findings of the evaluation will be published here. For more information see the EU4Health website.