The European Commission announced this Wednesday that it will mobilize around 1.3 billion euros for the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) in 2023, with the aim of preventing health crises in the European Union (EU).
“HERA today presents its second annual work plan, which will have a budget of almost 1.3 billion euros in 2023 and aims at the prevention, preparation and rapid response to existing and emerging cross-border health emergencies, with a focus on development. and the availability of medical countermeasures”, announces the community executive in a statement.
Speaking of a “significant budget for 2023”, Brussels points out that these funds will allow the body “to adopt measures to, among other things, anticipate health threats, invest in medical solutions to health crises, and ensure timely availability and access to medical countermeasures????????
HERA’s work plan for next year foresees, from the outset, an endowment of 100 million euros to support innovative and strategic projects against priority cross-border threats to health, as well as an endowment of up to 80 million euros to support the development of the next generation of anti-covid-19 vaccines.
At the same time, it will be up to this health authority to collect information and assess health threats and ensure sufficient supply chains and production capacities in the EU.
HERA will also work in international coordination and global collaboration with other health organizations at European and global level.
At a press conference in Brussels, the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, stressed that the Covid-19 pandemic was “a revelation” for global health crisesthat “not only are they increasing, but they are becoming more frequent”.
“If we go back in our history over the last 30 years, we have faced HIV-AIDS, the Zika virus, avian influenza, Ebola, SARS, MERS, and most recently monkeypox and Covid-19. . [sendo que] the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance could be next”, listed Stella Kyriakides.
“The warning signs were present and clear for many years, but we were hit globally without being prepared,” described the European head of guardianship, defending “a new world health order to reverse these trends and better face health threats.”
According to Stella Kyriakides, “the EU will fully assume its duty to take a leading role in this process”, specifically through HERA.
Source: Observadora
