More than EUR 4 million for public health projects: Ukraine receives confirmation of funding under EU4Health programs

Following the signing of the 2022 agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on Ukraine's participation in the EU4Health program (participation in 10 joint projects with other EU member states), the European Commission approved Ukraine’s participation in them and confirmed more than EUR 4.5 million in total funding for their implementation for Ukraine. These are, in particular, the following areas for which funds will be allocated:

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

As part of the 2023 work program, 12 calls for proposals were announced for non-governmental organizations, with a total budget of about EUR 20 million. They relate, in particular, to the areas of access to health care, mental health, and prevention and diagnosis of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

The projects funded under the EU4Health program aim to improve and promote health in the EU, combat cross-border health threats, improve medicines, medical devices, and crisis products, and strengthen health systems, their resilience, and efficient use of resources. Each country participating in the program determines a national program committee (representatives of the Ministry of Health) and coordinators for project implementation within the country; in Ukraine, these are specialists from the Center for Public Health.

For reference: on 1 January 2022, Ukraine became a participant in the program. The total budget of the EU4Health program for 2021-2027 is EUR 5.3 billion. EU4Health is implemented through annual work programs. The agreement allows Ukraine to receive EU funding in the health sector on equal terms with the EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Moldova.

Ukraine’s participation in the program involves the payment of an annual fee totaling EUR 12.1 million (2022-2027). In 2022, an agreement was signed to cancel the membership fee for Ukraine in 2022. Currently, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working to ratify the agreement in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the abolition of membership fees for Ukraine until the end of the program - until 2027.