EU4Health – The EU’s Programme for Better Public Health
EU4Health is the EU’s most extensive initiative in the field of public health. We participate in projects, collaborate internationally, and disseminate results that strengthen health efforts across the EU.
What is EU4Health?
EU4Health is the EU’s fourth health programme and covers the period 2021–2027. It was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to build resilient, accessible, and sustainable health and care systems in Europe.
EU4Health 2021-2027 – a vision for a healthier European Union (ec.europa.eu)
Funding and Procurement
The programme is managed by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). They continuously publish calls for project grants and procurements in the health sector.
Read more and apply via HaDEA’s website (hadea.ec.europa.eu)
The Role of the Public Health Agency of Sweden
The Public Health Agency of Sweden is the national contact point for EU4Health in Sweden. We:
- inform national stakeholders about the programme and its opportunities
- disseminate results from EU-funded actions
- participate in several projects funded by the programme.
We also cooperate with other EU countries and international actors in the field of health.
Ongoing Projects within EU4Health
CCHFVACIM (Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Vaccine and Immunotherapy).
The project is focused on developing effective vaccines and therapeutic antibodies against Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV). The aim is to create protective immunological tools that can prevent and treat infections in both humans and animals.In addition, the project contributes to the further development of diagnostic methods. Together, these efforts strengthen both prevention and preparedness for future epidemics.
The project ends in December 2027.
Webpage of the project: cchfvacim.eu
EU-HIP (EU Interoperability with HERA's IT Platform) is an EU-funded project aimed at strengthening national IT systems to ensure interoperability with HERA's IT platform. HERA (Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority) focuses on health threats from pathogens with high pandemic potential, antimicrobial resistance, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats (CBRN), as well as medical countermeasures such as medical products and protective equipment.
The project ends in April 2026.
Webpage of the project: EU-HIP (en.ssi.dk)
The overarching goal of the "EU Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections" (EU-JAMRAI2) is to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics and thereby promote public health, through collaboration between countries, institutions, and sectors.
The project has a strong focus on implementation and is well in line with Sweden's work against the development and spread of antibiotic resistance, in for example surveillance, access to antibiotics, and work with behavioral insights. The project focuses also on implementation of national action plans on antimicrobial resistance containment.
A total of 30 countries and nearly 130 organisations across Europe are participating. The Public Health Agency of Sweden is leading two work packages and coordinates Sweden's participation.
The project ends in December 2027.
Webpage of the project: EU-JAMRAI (eu-jamrai.eu)
EU-WISH (Wastewater Integrated Surveillance for Public Health) supports activities to strengthen and improve the national capacity for wastewater-based surveillance through knowledge exchange among participants and sharing of best practices based on scientific evidence.
The project ends in October 2026.
Webpage of the project: EU-WISH (eu-wish.eu)
The EURL-PH-ERZV provide support to EU Member States in strengthening preparedness and response to high-risk viral pathogens of public health concern, including pox, arena, hanta, filo, henipa, and lyssa viruses, as well as novel diseases that may emerge, such as disease X.
Coordinated by the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the EURL is implemented through a consortium consisting of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases (Italy), the National Center for Public Health and Pharmacy (Hungary), and Institut Pasteur (France).
The project ends in December 2031.
Webpage of the project: EURL for Public Health on Emerging, Rodent-borne and Zoonotic Viral Pathogens (EURL-PH-ERZV)
The EURL-PH-HEZB stands for "The EU Reference Laboratory for Public Health on 'High-risk, Emerging and Zoonotic Bacterial pathogens'" and covers high-risk, emerging and zoonotic bacterial pathogens including Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Yersinia pestis (plague), Francisella tularensis (tularaemia), Brucella spp. (brucellosis), Burkholderia mallei (glanders), Burkholderia pseudomallei (melioidosis), Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), Rickettsia spp. (rickettsiosis), Borrelia spp. (neuroborreliosis) and Leptospira spp. (leptospirosis).
Webpage of the project: EU Reference Laboratories
The EVORA Project is a key European initiative to strengthen preparedness for future pandemics. It brings together expertise and resources to tackle emerging viral threats through coordinated research, streamlined governance, and improved access to preclinical services.
EVORA aims to create a sustainable alliance that offers tailored tools and integrated support for studying viruses with epidemic or pandemic potential.
The project ends in December 2026.
Webpage of the project: evora-project.eu
The basis of the GENSAM project is the joint national management of clinical microbial sequencing data. It is a platform and database for the automated analysis of whole genome sequencing data. Clinical microbiology laboratories across Sweden can submit data from independent sequencing, which is then centrally analysed and shared with regional infection protection units and other relevant health organisations.
The project ends in June 2025.
Webpage of the project: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Bioinformatics
INTERCEPTOR (International Cooperation of High Containment Research Infrastructures: From Epidemic Preparedness to Response). It is a global consortium uniting leading high-containment laboratories (HCLs) from Europe and beyond.
The initiative focuses on improving access to HCLs.These efforts aim to ensure wider, secure access to cutting-edge high-containment infrastructures. Ultimately, INTERCEPTOR seeks to lay the foundation for a sustainable and globally connected network of HCLs, ready to support both epidemic preparedness and emergency response.
The project ends in December 2026.
Webpage of the project: interceptor-project.eu
JA GHI (Joint Action to Maximise the Impact of the EU Global Health Strategy) aims to increase the impact of the EU's global health strategy.
The project ends in September 2025.
Webpage of the project: ja-ghi.eu
JA PreventNCD (Joint Action Prevent Non Communicable Diseases) is a collaboration between 25 European countries, with a focus on reducing the burden of cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. NCDs constitute a significant portion of the disease burden, much of which is preventable.
JApreventNCD has the following aims:
- Enhance the capacity of member states to implement effective prevention strategies.
- Address common risk factors at both individual and societal levels.
- Address social inequalities through targeted interventions.
JA PreventNCD in Sweden
The Public Health Agency of Sweden coordinates Sweden’s participation in the project and contributes in several work packages such as those on healthy living environments, health in all policies and monitoring. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) contribute in a work package on identifying individuals at risk of NCDs through the Regional Cancer Center (RCC) Stockholm Gotland.
Examples of Swedish projects in JA preventNCD:
- With the aim to support a child-centered perspective in urban planning Public Health Agency of Sweden and Healthy Cities Sweden perform an evaluation of the Platskompassen, a tool developed for municipalities and other local actors to create health-promoting living environments.
- RCC Stockholm Gotland evaluate whether free travel to and from breast cancer screening increases participation in screening from areas with low participation.
- A pilot project testing a monitoring system for activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep using accelerometry devices. It may lead to a harmonized EU health surveillance system, improving risk evaluation for cancer and other NCDs.
The project ends in December 2027.
Webpage of the project: preventncd.eu
Mental Health Together (MENTOR) focuses on mental health, and the work package that the Public Health Agency of Sweden is leading together with the Netherlands involves implementing a strategy for Mental Health in All Policies (MHIAP).
The project ends in August 2027.
Webpage of the project: ja-mentor.eu
OH4Surveillance is an EU project aimed at strengthening the surveillance of zoonotic diseases by integrating and enhancing collaboration between animal health, human health, and the environment. The project focuses on improving the ability to rapidly and effectively detect, assess, and respond to threats to public health through a One Health perspective. The Swedish authorities participating in the project are the Public Health Agency of Sweden and the Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA).
The project ends in December 2026.
Webpage of the project: OH4Surveillance (en.ssi.dk)
The Public Health Agency of Sweden has been part of a European Joint Action since 2022: Partnership to Contrast HPV (PERCH), which focuses on increasing the coverage of HPV vaccination. Within the project, we have been able to contribute examples from Sweden, which has high vaccination coverage and a well-functioning student health organization.
Within the project, we have updated information about HPV vaccination to increase knowledge about why boys are also offered HPV vaccination. We have had great help from several roundtable discussions conducted within the project with representatives in the student health medical intervention to identify facilitators, barriers, and current issues regarding HPV vaccination at different ages.
The project ends in August 2025.
Webpage of the project: PERCH (projectperch.eu)
RAPID (Real-time Analysis of Public Health Data) is an EU-funded project that contributes to the real-time analysis of public health data through a scalable infrastructure for the agency's capture, processing, storage, and sharing of data related to the surveillance of infectious diseases.
RAPID, which stands for Real-time Analysis of Public Health Integrated Data, is an EU-funded project aimed at enabling the analysis of public health data without delay. The project involves several Swedish agencies and focuses on improving access to and analysis of public health data to strengthen Sweden's ability to promote health, prevent illness, and protect against health threats.
The project aims to enhance data management by developing a nationally cohesive platform for the surveillance of infectious diseases, with a central focus on integrating data from existing surveillance systems such as Sminet, GENSAM, and NVR. Additionally, significant emphasis is placed on clarifying the legal framework for the collection of personal information data. The project also includes training and education for epidemiologists in the use of new tools for data-driven management of zoonotic outbreaks.
The project is closely linked to the national implementation of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) to standardize health data and its secondary use.
The project ends in December 2028.
More information:
A national collaboration to make health data easier to find and access.
SENASH is an EU funded project in which five national agencies collaborate to prepare Sweden’s capability to make health data available for secondary use in the European Health Data Space, EHDS. In the health data space, high quality data will be shared efficiently and securely within and between EU member states.
SENASH, which stands for Sweden National services for Access to Swedish Health data for secondary use, aims to make it easier to find and access health data at a national level. This will be achieved by developing and testing two systems in pilot versions: a national metadata catalogue and a management system to process health data applications and requests from one or more data holders. Another goal is to increase collaboration between national stakeholders on issues regarding the European Health data Space, EHDS.
The project involves the Swedish eHealth Agency (project coordinator), the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the National Board of Health and Welfare, Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Research Council. The Public Health Agency of Sweden contributes to all parts of the project with the expertise we have from being a health data holder and user. We also lead the work to strengthen the collaboration between national stakeholders and to ensure that the systems have a sustainability plan beyond the duration of the project.
The project ends in January 2027.
More information:
UNITED4Surveillance (Union and National Capacity Building for Integrated Surveillance) is an EU4Health project aimed at strengthening infectious disease surveillance systems at the national level by improving the integration, interoperability, and digitalization of data sources.
The project involves 40 partners from across Europe, representing 24 countries and 40 institutes.
The project ends in December 2025.
Webpage of the project: united4surveillance.eu
