Public health. Improving health for all EU citizens

Citizens’ health is a core EU priority. EU health policy complements national policies to ensure that everyone living in the EU has access to quality healthcare. The main objectives of EU health policy are to: prevent disease, promote healthier lifestyles, promote well-being, protect people from serious cross-border threats to health, improve access to healthcare, promote health information and education, improve patient safety, support dynamic health systems and new technologies, set high quality and safety standards for organs and other substances of human origin, ensure high quality, safety and efficacy for medicinal products and devices for medical use.

While the organisation and delivery of healthcare is the responsibility of individual countries, the EU brings added value in helping countries achieve common objectives. EU health policy generates economies of scale by pooling resources, and helps countries to tackle the common challenges, including health threats such as pandemics, the risk factors associated with chronic diseases or the impact of increased life expectancy on healthcare systems.

This publication is a part of a series that explains what the EU does in different policy areas, why the EU is involved and what the results are.