The European Commission has launched its EU4Health 2026 Work Programme, announcing over €680 million in funding for health. Strengthening Crisis Preparedness remains the programme’s primary focus, accounting for close to two thirds of the overall budget.
Other key areas of investment include manufacturing capacity for critical medicines, cardiovascular health, clinical trials for biotech medicinal products, the European Health Data Space and use of AI in healthcare.
Commenting on the launch, Dr. Sandra Galvin, Programme Manager at the Health Research Board (HRB), said:
“The 2026 Work Programme supports the competitiveness of the health sector across Europe and offers real opportunities for Ireland’s health community to contribute to stronger, more resilient and more accessible health systems. If your work aligns with the programme’s priorities, I encourage you to get in touch for guidance on submitting a proposal. We can provide practical information and help you expand your international networks.”
The 2026 Work Programme brings together funding under five main strands:
- Crisis preparedness (over €429 million)
- Health promotion and disease prevention (over €47 million)
- Cancer, cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases (over €28 million)
- Health systems & healthcare workforce (over €111 million)
- Digital (over €46 million)
Call topics within the largest investment strand, Crisis Preparedness, focus on generating information relevant to medical countermeasures (€18 million) and on the establishment of a European Hub for diagnostic development, validation, and manufacturing scale-up (€30 million).
Within the Health Systems and Healthcare Workforce strand, €59.4 million is available through competitive calls for proposals. These include €40 million to support manufacturing capacity of critical medicinal products, and €10.9 million for multinational clinical trials of biotech medicinal products, such as biological medicines, advanced therapies and vaccines.
