The European Union
Partner in global health
GPE/Stephan Bachenheimer
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This content was last updated on 11 August 2023.
A strategic partnership with the EU for better health for all
The European Union (EU) plays a leading role in global health, shaping priorities through international fora, such as the G20 and G7. The EU provides critical financial support to health and related issues, including human development, climate change, crisis management and humanitarian assistance.
The EU's leading role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic was an example of its contribution to global health goals with the Team Europe approach.
Team Europe is an initiative launched by the European Commission to combine the resources from the EU institutions, the EU Member States, and the European Investment Bank to support countries in the fight against the pandemic.
The EU - WHO partnership is long-lasting and strategic, supporting global health as well as countries across the world in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 on good health and well-being, and other SDGs’ health-related targets.
The partners share a promise to help bridge the gap between global commitments and impact in countries, strengthen health systems, achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and improve capacities to prepare, prevent and respond to health emergencies. This strategic collaboration also enables countries to be better equipped to apply a One Health approach to global challenges such as antimicrobial resistance, address the health impact of climate change, improve sexual and reproductive health and keep at bay communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Dr Tedros and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
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Dr Tedros and Mr Michel, president of the European Council, at a joint press conference in March 2021.
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In the context of the EU Global Health Strategy, WHO and the EU aim to further enhance their cooperation by building on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic response. A stronger global health security architecture will be a solid foundation for a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive development.
A top WHO Contributor
With US$ 297 million in contribution in 2022-23, the EU further consolidated its position as a leading and strategic WHO global partner. This support enables WHO to assist countries in meeting SDG 3 on good health and well-being, strengthen health systems, improve access to quality and affordable care, address global health challenges and provide much needed health assistance to millions of people around the world.
This builds further on the key role the EU has already played during the 2020-2021 biennium:
Note: The amounts represent the revenue received by WHO for the period stated and they might differ from the figures in the WHO Budget Portal, as they represent funds available net of programme support costs.
Top priorities
- Health systems strengthening and Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
- Access to medicines
- Health Emergencies and Humanitarian Aid and COVID-19 pandemic response
- Global health security
- One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance
- Health determinants
In November 2022, Dr Tedros and Mrs Urpilainen, EU Commissioner for International Partnership, signed a WHO – EU partnership programme.
Pierre ALBOUY, Copyright EU
European Commissioner for International Partnerships Ms Jutta Urpilainen(L) and WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus(R) during a bilateral meeting with Signature of the letter of intention, on March 23, 2022 in Geneva.
European Commissioner for International Partnerships Ms Jutta Urpilainen(L) and WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus(R) during a bilateral meeting with Signature of the letter of intention, on March 23, 2022 in Geneva.
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Health systems strengthening and Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
The EU is committed to help the world achieve universal health coverage (UHC). Together, the EU and WHO support countries and provide global leadership to ensure that all people, especially the most vulnerable, have access to quality, affordable health services when and where they need them.
In 2011, WHO and the EU initiated the UHC Partnership with the shared vision to make it possible for global commitments come closer to country action, to help make health for all a reality.
In 2022, WHO and the EU reinforced their decade-long commitment to accelerate UHC through a new EU contribution of over US$ 138 million until 2027. This will bring the overall EU contribution since 2019 to US$ 306 million making the EU the largest donor to the Partnership, which currently covers 115 countries with a population of over 3 billion people. With over 70% of these funds used at country level, the EU and WHO assist national authorities in strengthening their health systems under a primary health care approach and making them more resilient and responsive to natural, climate or human-made disasters.
This partnership with WHO is a key deliverable of the new EU Global Health Strategy.
Access to medicines
The EU and WHO joined forces in 2022 in the context of the Team Europe initiative for local manufacturing in Africa, to support local manufacturing of and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa with a €24.5 million allocation from the EU to WHO. The aim is to bring solutions to the inequalities shown during the COVID-19 pandemic, empower countries and partners across Africa to boost local manufacturing by advancing regulatory convergence across the continent, supporting technology transfer and capacity building for local production, and improving the consolidation of the demand and strategic purchasing.
Read more about the focus of this joint work:
The EU–WHO partnership will assist the African Union in reaching its target of increasing local vaccine production, in Africa and for Africa. It will also support the achievement of African Union objectives in areas such as jobs and growth, trade, and scientific cooperation focusing on
- Technology transfer: enable local production in Sub-Saharan Africa, in close cooperation with national, continental, and global stakeholders (COVAX Manufacturing Task Force); support the mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa, technology transfer across the region, and workforce development.
- Regulatory strengthening: support African partners to strengthen regulatory frameworks and functions;. create an enabling and innovative environment for the local manufacturing of vaccines, medicines and health technologies; reinforce the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) initiative and the African Medicines Agency.
- Demand consolidation: assist leaders and communities to defragment demand and better forecast needs, enhancing markets for locally produced products.
EU-WHO collaboration in this area builds on existing access to medicines partnerships between the EU and WHO, such as the EU backed development of health solutions to tackle neglected tropical diseases in endemic areas. These continued support enables African partners to foster inclusive sustainable development across the continent, advance universal health coverage, strengthen health systems and boost skills and help create jobs and opportunities for Africa's younger generations.
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Conakry, Guinea, March 2023: a national community leader addresses health workers and volunteers at a WHO workshop funded by the EU
Conakry, Guinea, March 2023: a national community leader addresses health workers and volunteers at a WHO workshop funded by the EU
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WHO / Asad Zaidi
Free medicines stock at drug store for the patients in district headquarters hospital (DHQ) Kasur in Pakistan
Free medicines stock at drug store for the patients in district headquarters hospital (DHQ) Kasur in Pakistan
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Health emergencies and Humanitarian Aid, including COVID-19 pandemic response
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Liberia, June 2022, joint WHO – national health services teams prepare deployment of medications to vulnerable, hard-to-reach communities.
Liberia, June 2022, joint WHO – national health services teams prepare deployment of medications to vulnerable, hard-to-reach communities.
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The EU and WHO have been working together in the field of humanitarian response for decades. Through the European Commission’s Directorate General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the EU enhances global health security by supporting the outbreak and crisis response operations of the WHO Health Emergencies programme across the globe.
WHO and ECHO provide vital humanitarian relief and assistance to the most vulnerable and fragile communities affected by health emergencies in several countries including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ukraine, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, etc.
Along with ECHO, WHO has also intensified its cooperation in outbreak and crisis response with the European Commission's Directorate General for International Partnerships and Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic response and other interventions in fragile settings.
The EU-WHO partnership in emergency preparedness, outbreak and crisis response extends beyond financial support. Both organizations cooperate operationally notably through the Global Health Cluster, sharing lessons learned, promoting preparedness and response, and supporting a multisectoral approach to health resilience. Together, ECHO and WHO help improve the timeliness and quality of health services provided by European Emergency Medical Teams that are committed to the European Civil Protection Pool under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism. As a result, they are better prepared to reduce loss of life and prevent long-term disability as a result of disasters, outbreaks and/or other emergencies.
COVID-19 pandemic response
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, the EU, EU Member States and European financial institutions, as Team Europe, have disbursed €47.7 billion in support of partner countries in addressing the pandemic and its consequences, delivering on its promises with concrete results. The EU and WHO have been working together to assist countries to stop the pandemic and mitigate its consequences. The EU contributed over US$ 270 million to WHO’s COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. In addition, the EU played a critical role in the launch and success of WHO’s initiated ACT-A: the global cooperation platform Access to COVID-19 Tools – Accelerator. This resulted in the development and deployment of vaccines, tests and treatments against COVID-19 in record-time, as well as continued efforts to improve health systems. To date, the EU is a leading donor to COVAX – ACT-A’s vaccine pillar. – They have allocated US$ 1.2 Billion towards global, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, while exploring possibilities for boosting local manufacturing capacity. In total, Team Europe contributed close to US$ 7.5 billion to this initiative. The EU also supports the donation of vaccines by EU Member States to low- and middle-income countries through COVAX. |
Global health security
WHO also works closely with the EU in strengthening global health security.
At the 74th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the EU and its Member States led efforts to promote a multilateral response to the pandemic and prepare better for future health emergencies. The resulting resolution strengthens WHO’s preparedness and response to health emergencies.
The EU played an active role in the WHA decision to kickstart the process to draft and negotiate a convention, accord or other international instrument under the WHO Constitution to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The EU and WHO share an ambition to help build stronger pandemic preparedness and response across the world. Through the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), the EU and WHO initiated a new partnership with a € 15 million allocated under the EU4Health programme.
The partners work side-by-side to boost capacities at national, regional, and global levels for better preparedness and response to health emergencies by supporting:
- Epidemic and pandemic intelligence, access to and sharing of data and analytics;
- The development of new medical countermeasures for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR);
- The scaling up of national capacities for SARS-CoV-2 & Emerging Pathogens detection & genomic surveillance in Africa (€ 2 million); and
- The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) to ensure the fastest, most coordinated, and successful global effort to develop and facilitate access to technologies to fight COVID-19 (€ 1 million).
Through these initiatives, HERA and WHO will strengthen global capacities to prepare, detect, prevent, and respond to cross-border health threats by providing information, capacities, and tools against health emergencies.
Dr Tedros with Mrs Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, and Ms Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety
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Working with EU institutions and bodies
WHO actively cooperates with and receives funding from the following European Commission services:
- The Directorate General for International Partnership (INTPA)
- The Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (NEAR)
- The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)
- The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA)
- The Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (SANTE)
- The Directorate General for Trade
- The Directorate General Environment
- The Directorate General Education and Culture (EAC)
- European Health and Digital Executive Agency
- The Directorate General for Structural Reform Support
- The Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
WHO also closely works with Eurostat and the following EU bodies and agencies:
- The European Investment Bank (EIB)
- The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
- The European Medicines Agency (EMA)
- The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
- The European Environment Agency (EEA)
- The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
- The European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA)
