The EU4Health program is a comprehensive initiative launched by the European Union (EU) to enhance and safeguard the health of its citizens. It aims to strengthen health systems, improve preparedness and response to health crises, and promote health promotion and disease prevention across the EU. The program focuses on areas such as digital health, healthcare innovation, access to medicines, and the coordination of cross-border health threats. It allocates significant funding to support research, training, and the development of health infrastructure, aiming to ensure a healthier and more resilient Europe.

According to the EU Knowledge Centre on Cancer, in 2020 there were 2.7 million new cases of cancer and 1.3 million deaths. Cancer is the primary cause of death for Europeans under 65. Other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and mental disorders) account for two-thirds of the annual deaths in the EU. Through the EU4Health programme, steps are being taken to reduce the burden and impact of these NCDs through health promotion and disease prevention strategies. However, even if the 40% of cancers that are preventable are prevented, and the disease prevalence of other NCDs is reduced by the estimated 70%, (through greater health promotion and prevention), there will still be a significant number of people in the EU who are living with one of these diseases, and unfortunately dying because of it. Both the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the EU Healthier Together Non-Communicable Disease Initiative identify improving the quality of life of people living with cancer and other NCDs and their families as an important component of the plans.

We believe the work of the EAPC is closely aligned with the EU4Health programme, and so our head office team, with support from the EAPC Board, applied for an operating grant in January 2023.

We are delighted that our application was approved. This is a significant step for EAPC, and an important recognition of the importance that we all do to strive for equitable, accessible palliative care throughout Europe (and beyond).

Espousing our values of striving for excellence, valuing interdisciplinary working and representation, respecting diversity, promoting inclusion, and working collaboratively in everything we do, our project workplan focuses strongly on the following workstreams that enable us to be a strong, sustainable and effective organisation for our members.  

• Planning, organising, and delivering an annual palliative care congress for our members and the wider global palliative care network and community.
• Facilitating and supporting our EAPC groups. 
• Working with our members through our EAPC group structure to deliver resources that add value to the palliative care community, for example webinars, research publications, White Papers, policy documents and tools for practice and by working as a trusted partner organisation on EU funded research projects.
• Collaborating with other European organisations to promote and support the development of palliative care throughout the European Union. We also collaborate with the global palliative care community.

To deliver on our project, our workstreams depend on us having a comprehensive communications strategy that fully utilises our vast network.  This enables us to provide education, facilitate knowledge transfer, raise awareness, encourage collaboration, provide networking opportunities and promote opportunities to disseminate information about palliative care.