Chat with us, powered by LiveChatThe EU Commission invests 156 million euros in Non-Communicable Diseases - FASI
FASI - Funding Aid Strategies Investments

The EU Commission invests 156 million euros in Non-Communicable Diseases

|News
24 June 2022

Publicdomainpictures.netA new European-wide initiative to reduce the burden of EU Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) addressing leading causes of avoidable premature death in Europe. This is the goal of "Healthier together", the new project of the European Commission that, by investing €156 million under the 2022 work programme of the EU 4 Health programme. The plan will try to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target - to reduce premature mortality by one-third by 2030.

 The Eropean Union's approach to the challenge of NCDs involves an integrated response across all sectors and policy fields. It does so by reinforcing and supporting policy implementation and effective action of health authorities and stakeholders.

 The illnesses that the initiative will try to tackle are cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, mental health and neurological disorders. But the main focus will be on health promotion and prevention, considered one of the underinvested areas of intervention (in 2018, no more than 2.8% of total health expenditure in the EU was invested in health prevention), in particular by:

  • Improving knowledge and sharing of best practices;
  • Health promotion and disease prevention, including screening and early detection;
  • Optimizing tools for diagnostics, treatment and disease management;
  • Improving the quality of life of people living with NCDs and their families.

 Ongoing actions that are contributing to the EU NCD initiative reach total funding of 189 million euros. The three major financial allocations go to joint action on health determinants (€ 75 million), diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (€ 53 million) and to a call for proposals on cancer and other NCDs prevention (€ 11 million).

 The development of the actions includes a co-creation process composed of 4 steps. 

  • Inventory of evidence-based policies, good practices and mapping of financial and legal support instruments;
  • Collection of priorities on a voluntary basis;
  • Grouping member states to identify opportunities for teamwork;
  • Implementation of actions on the ground by selecting actions that could benefit from EU funding such as the 2022 EU 4 Health Work Programme to reach a better deployment. 

 “Non-communicable diseases represent 80% of the disease burden in the European Union, placing considerable pressure on our healthcare systems. Today's initiative is an important step to continue tackling them in a systematic and comprehensive way. By forging this path to better prevention, detection and treatment together with the Member States and stakeholders, we are continuing to build the foundations of our strong European Health Union”, said the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kiriakydes.

 EU Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) initiative: Guidance document

;