Pre-conference: Best practices in EU-wide projects contributing to achieving the objectives of EU Health policies

Tuesday 12 November, 13:30 – 17:00 Lisbon time (starting with network lunch at 12:30)


Organised by

European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA)  and Joint Action on increasing the capacity of National Focal Points (NFPs) – NFP4Health

Background

To provide an answer, HaDEA and the Joint Action NFP4Health will bring together different actions funded under the EU4Health  and Horizon Europe Cluster 1 programmes. The focus is on prevention of non-communicable diseases, including cancer, and on vaccination; these are topic areas where there is sufficient scope and rationale for collaborative approaches and where evidence-informed policies or interventions can be expected to contribute to innovative, resilient, efficient and sustainable health systems. The session will explore the obstacles and enabling factors that determine the impact and success of such knowledge transfer, and how this can be supported by actions undertaken at a cross-country and national level.

Budgeted at EUR €5.3 billion for the period 2021-27, the EU4Health programme is the biggest investment that the EU has put forward to improve and foster health, protect people, strengthen health systems and establish a European Health Union.

In line with the Treaties and the role of the EU in public health, it complements both EU health policies, as well as the policies of the Member States. As per the programme regulation, it “should be a means of promoting actions in areas where there is a Union added value that can be demonstrated. Such actions should include, inter alia, strengthening the exchange of best practices between Member States, supporting networks for the sharing of knowledge or for mutual learning”.

Best practices are therefore one of the key tools employed by the programme to address common challenges in areas where proven interventions can add value.

Objectives

The workshop will look at the way best practices are selected and then implemented l addressing the dimensions of uptake, transferability, scalability, impact and sustainability. In particular, the event will:

  1. Take stock of projects’ results achieved so far under EU4Health in the field of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevention, including cancer prevention, and vaccination.
  2. Involve key co-funded actions to share their knowledge and experience on implementing best practices.
  3. Provide some early lessons learnt from the programme implementation relevant for future policy developments.
  4. Identify innovative approaches for non-communicable diseases/cancer prevention, by fostering synergies with Horizon Europe Cluster 1 projects.
     

Target audiences

Stakeholders of all levels in the health services and public health research community, knowledge brokering organizations, policymakers, managers and other decision makers in public health, and other relevant stakeholders and NGOs at national and European level.

Format

The workshop will have an interactive structure: panels of stakeholders who have been engaged in various EU-level initiatives, such as Joint Actions with Member States’ health authorities, EU-funded projects, flagship initiatives or other EU-wide collaborative actions, will engage in a dialogue with the audience and share their experience with the use of evidence, its transferability across different contexts and its uptake by policy makers. The discussion will aim at presenting how the implementation of best practices can lead to better public health and give relevant feedback to policymakers, to ensure in turn their wider uptake and use, for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Programme

13:30- 14:00    Introduction
The preconference will start with an introductory session, which will set the scene and present the key issues to be addressed in two panel discussions.

14:00-15:00     Best practices implementation in the area of vaccination
The first panel will feature speakers from the OECD, the WHO, national focal points of the EU4Health programme and project coordinators (e.g. EUVABECO, VAX-Action, the study on overcoming obstacles to vaccination and PERCH).

15:00-15:30     Coffee break

15:30-16:30      Best practices implementation in the area of non-communicable disease prevention including cancer
The second panel will feature speakers from the OECD, NIVEL, the WHO, national focal points of the EU4Health programme and project coordinators (e.g. JA PreventNCD, Care4diabetes, JACARDI and IMPLEMENTAL).

16:30-17:00    Conclusions
A closing session will draw conclusions from the two panels, with a focus on next steps and common actions needed from relevant stakeholders with a vested interest in strengthening the adoption of best practices across the board, both at national and EU level level.

Registration

The pre-conference is financially supported and the registration fee is only EUR 20. Networking lunch and refreshments are included.