Action plan 2021-2027 tracker: health

The 2021-2027 Action plan on integration and inclusion's goals in the area of health include:

migrants and EU citizens with a migrant background are informed about their rights and have equal access to regular health care services, including mental health services under the conditions established by national law and practices
specific challenges faced by migrant women, including prenatal and post-natal healthcare for mothers, are fully considered when facilitating access to health care services

Explore all actions in this integration area below.

1. Transnational healthcare projects

Action	Facilitate migrants’ access to healthcare with funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme
Status	Continuous
Type	Funding Programme Project
Implementation	This action is continuous, with more initiatives expected to take place until 2027. Several transnational projects started in 2021 and 2022 following the 2020 AMIF Union Actions call for proposals under the priority for access to basic services. An example is the project MHEALTH4ALL which aims to develop an evidence-based, multilingual, open-access digital platform targeted at healthcare providers to enhance access to mental healthcare for migrants with limited language skills.

2. Supporting healthcare in the EU27

Status

Continuous

Type

Funding
Project

Implementation

This action is continuous, with more initiatives expected to take place until 2027. The EU promotes access to health care for different groups, including migrants, via funds such as:

The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) under which EU countries can support access to healthcare ‘with a particular focus on children and disadvantaged groups’.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under which access to education, employment, housing, health and social care for people with migration background is promoted at the national, regional and local level.
The EC’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety also funds several projects addressing access to quality and affordable healthcare services.

3. EU27 exchanges on prevention

Status

Continuous

Type

Funding
Partnership
Project

Implementation

This action is continuous, with more initiatives expected to take place until 2027. So far it includes:

The conference From emergency responses to sustainable solutions took place in October 2022, organised by the EC, EU Committee of Regions (CoR), and the European Development Bank.
Under the EU4Health Work Programme 2023, a contribution agreement on immunisation was signed with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to increase vaccination coverage, including in migrant populations.
The EU invested €6.64 million in 5 projects support community-based healthcare and outreach services to tackle HIV and AIDS among hard-to-reach populations, especially migrants. The project include EXPAND, TOGETHERHIVSTI, REACH-OUT, CORE and BOOST.

4. EU27 exchanges on mental health

Status

Continuous

Type

Partnership
Policy
Publication

Implementation

This action is continuous, with more initiatives expected to take place until 2027. So far it includes:

In the framework of the Urban Agenda Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees, 2 events were organised in October 2021 and 2022 with the contribution of the EU Committee of Regions (CoR) to address issues and good practices in mental health.
The EC’s European Migration Network (EMN) published the July 2022 inform paper Mapping of mental health policies for third-country nationals.
The EC launched a Communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health in June 2023, with a specific focus also on vulnerable groups including refugees, migrants and people with migration background.

5. Supporting people displaced from Ukraine

Status

Continuous

Type

Funding
Partnership
Programme
Project

Implementation

This action is continuous, with more initiatives expected to take place until 2027. It focuses on access to health care services and exchanges between the EU countries. See examples below.

Access to health care services for the displaced population from Ukraine:

EC launched in 2023 a 2-year project backed with €4 million from the EU4Health Work Programme to help improve access to healthcare for people fleeing Ukraine in some of the EU countries. The project is backed by the partners International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Health Organization (WHO), who each benefit from half of the budget to implement the initiative.
In July 2023, the EC and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies published the second report on access to health care for people with temporary protection.

Exchanges between EU countries on supporting health care for beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine:

A EU contribution of €31.2 million to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Societies helped launch the June 2022 project under the title Provision of Quality and Timely Psychological First Aid to People Affected by the Ukraine Crisis in Impacted Countries. The project aims to support a total of 593 207 people over 3 years with psychological first aid and capacity building across 25 participating IFRC national societies until October 2025.
Under the EU4Health Work Programme, the Commission is contributing €3 million to 4 projects – Peace of Mind, iFightDepression, Well-U, and U-Rise – run by NGOs to mitigate the negative impact of the war and improve the mental health of people fleeing the war.
In June 2023, a call for tenders for capacity building on mental health was launched with a budget of about €9 million under EU4Health. The project started in January 2024, with its pilot taking place in 6 countries.