European Commission proposes a new, standalone EU Health Programme “EU4Health”

The COVID-19 crisis has outlined the need for more effective and coordinated European health actions between Member States. Against this background, the European Commission proposed the EU4health programme, a robust health programme for 2021-2027 with the main objective of ensuring better EU preparedness and response to major cross border health threats and sustainable health care systems across member states. The Programme’s proposed budget consists of €9.4 billion funded from the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the Recovery Instrument ‘’Next Generation EU”. This programme is an opportunity to reinforce healthcare systems and medical care to improve outcomes for patients in Europe, making progress in developing and implementing innovative approaches including in the blood transfusion landscape. It also aims to provide the means to strengthen medical education, research and clinical practices across Europe and the implementation of new care models.