The European Commission is strengthening global health security through the new Global Health Resilience Initiative

The European Commission has adopted the Global Health Resilience Initiative. This strategy positions the EU as a reliable and leading player in the field of global health, strengthening global prevention, preparedness and response to future health threats and addressing gaps in the resilience of health systems.

It sets out the strategic framework for the EU’s future actions, enabling Europe to respond more swiftly to health threats and crises in today’s interconnected world, building on a strong multilateral system and cooperation with partners. This further strengthens the EU’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness and supports our partners’ transition from aid dependency to health sovereignty.

The Global Health Resilience Initiative proposes five key priority areas that add the most value to the EU’s contribution to stability and collective action in the field of global health.

1. Promoting a more effective and less fragmented global health architecture. This is essential to address current challenges, such as the lack of funding. Achieving greater coordination within the EU on global health will be a key objective, and the EU will maintain its long-standing commitment to the global health agenda by contributing to joint efforts. The EU has already mobilised over €6 billion in health investments under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe and has made health a key pillar of Global Gateway, the EU’s external investment arm.
2. Supporting the development of resilient, country-led health systems. Strong national health systems are central to resilience: countries that can finance, manage and deliver their own essential health services are prepared to cope with crises, protect their populations and maintain continuity of care during crises. The EU will therefore support partner countries’ transition towards health sovereignty through targeted investments and the sharing of expertise, with a focus on primary care.
3. Strengthening international prevention, preparedness and response to global health threats and crises. The EU will strengthen global networks to improve the detection, preparedness and response to epidemic threats. The EU will strengthen its crisis response capacity by ensuring greater availability of medical countermeasures, such as therapies, vaccines and diagnostics. The EU will also contribute to the development of a global health and resilience indicator to track global health expenditure.
4. Diversification of global supply chains and manufacturing of key medical products. The initiative strengthens the EU’s competitiveness and fosters mutually beneficial partnerships with companies and authorities in partner countries. It promotes European medical science and technology, whilst expanding global manufacturing capacities and investment opportunities that contribute to the development of local infrastructure, skills and jobs. To achieve this, the EU will support the diversification of global supply chains, the development of key medical products and international cooperation on knowledge-sharing regarding medical countermeasures and rapid response capabilities. The EU will also accelerate the deployment of EU investment instruments (such as the Team Europe initiative on manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies, known as ‘MAV’) and seek to collaborate with the private sector to support investments in partner countries.
5. Strengthening societal resilience by building trust in science and combating health-related misinformation and disinformation to ensure that global health policy-making remains grounded in collaboration and scientific evidence. Specifically, the initiative will help improve access to reliable scientific data, strengthen cooperation with partner countries on public health communication, and support efforts to counter false and misleading health information.

To translate these priorities into action, the Global Health Resilience Initiative proposes nine flagship national, regional and globalmeasures, aimed at improving preparedness and coordination and building resilient systems worldwide. Their implementation will begin between 2026 and 2027.

Background

The Global Health Resilience Initiative builds on the European Health Union, the Union’s Preparedness Strategy, the European Union’s Global Health Strategy and Global Gateway investments in partner countries. Through the Global Gateway and the Team Europe approach, as well as the Union’s Preparedness Strategy, the EU is mobilising innovative financing tools and pooling public and private resources to help partners address the investment gap in areas of mutual interest, strengthening capacity to anticipate, prevent, detect and respond to cross-border health threats.

The EU has made progress on transformative health programmes, such as the Team Europe initiative on the manufacture of and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies, known as ‘MAV’.

To date, MAV has invested around €2 billion to address medical supply and demand challenges on the African continent.

The EU’s strong support for multilateralism is exemplified by the recent €700 million commitment to the Global Fund. In 2024–2025, the EU and its Member States also contributed €1.7 billion to the World Health Organisation.

Horizon Europe has contributed nearly €1 billion to health-related research and innovation. The EUproHealth programme has allocated over €130 million between 2022 and 2024 to international partners. In humanitarian contexts, €745 million was specifically allocated to health-related interventions between 2022 and 2025.

More information: European Commission.