Concerns rise over funding cuts impacting health and social priorities in Europe
In collaboration with the Social Platform, EuroHealthNet has released a statement expressing concerns about the impact of cuts in EU funding to achieve its health and social rights priorities.
The recent decision by heads of states to redirect funds from key EU programs to strategic technologies, defence, security, and Ukraine’s recovery has resulted in a 20% cut to crucial programs supporting social and health priorities, including the EU4Health programme, Cohesion funds and HorizonEurope. While acknowledging the need to support Ukraine, we stress the importance of maintaining funding for social cohesion and reducing disparities.
Amid converging crises, including socioeconomic impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, cost-of-living challenges, global conflicts, and climate change, one in five people in the EU live in poverty or social exclusion. Addressing the budget cuts, our Policy Manager Dorota Sienkiewicz states:
“While these cuts are generally bad news for the overall public health community, it is extra painful for initiatives that explicitly address health inequalities, promote good health and prevent diseases. Under the current EU4Health budget, despite the principle being written into the programme, hardly 20% of budget was assigned to these kinds of initiatives. Now, with the budget cuts, there will be even less money to work with and ensure sustainable impacts. Meanwhile, our ageing populations and the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases and mental health problems are stretching our health and social (protection) systems beyond limits. These investments in health promotion and disease prevention are much needed to reduce the need for care and make our health systems sustainable in the face of growing demands.”
Read the full statement here.