EU global HEalth poLicy IndeX
Reports, data and interactive tools on the EU's role in global health, from a team of CEPS health policy experts and researchers in Brussels.
The index: three tools and twelve topics
Three tools
With a rich repository of reports, data, and interactive tools, Helix provides unparalleled insights into how the EU is shaping global health responses.
Learn about the EU's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). Tagged in the repository under Health security, EU's role in global health and Global health investment.
Go to HERA TrackerThe EU Global Health Policy Tracker. Tagged in the repository under Global health, EU's role in global health, Global health investment and EU legislation and governance.
Go to the Global Health TrackerThought pieces from academic, policy and business leaders, published as part of the CEPS R&D Perspectives series on global health and agriculture research and development.
Read the R&D PerspectivesQuiz
Reports
The three latest reports on health security in the repository, as of 15 September 2026.
Global health research and development (R&D) is entering a period of acute vulnerability. The US is withdrawing from multilateral health commitments it once anchored and major donors are cutting development funding, all while climate change and conflicts are accelerating the emergence of new health threats. Against this backdrop, the EU has signalled a renewed commitment to global health leadership, mostly through the announcement of the Global Health Resilience Initiative (GHRI), yet this ambition risks being undermined from within. The EU’s sharpening focus on industrial competitiveness threatens to redirect priorities inward, crowding out global health when it demands greater investment. Within this landscape, the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) is well placed to lead the EU’s efforts to strengthen international R&D collaboration. It has made much progress on advancing bilateral and multi-stakeholder partnerships; however, its external mandate remains underfunded and its engagement with low- and middle-income countries is largely project-based rather than capacity-building oriented. Drawing on an analysis of HERA’s international partnerships and Horizon Europe funding flows, this paper examines how the upcoming GHRI and Multiannual Financial Framework can be leveraged to strengthen HERA’s global health R&D footprint. It proposes concrete actions for the Commission to ensure that HERA is adequately resourced, strategically coherent, and positioned to deliver on the EU’s global health ambitions.
The EU has reinforced its leadership in global health security by adopting a more proactive and cooperative approach to preparedness and response. Its health security framework seeks to enhance the EU’s capacity to respond to cross-border health threats, strengthening both readiness and resilience.
The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) plays a critical role in anticipating risks, securing medical countermeasures and coordinating pandemic preparedness and response actions internally as well as with international partners. Amid ongoing geopolitical shifts and reductions in global health financing, HERA’s mandate is increasingly important.
This report draws on a qualitative approach, coupling document analysis and stakeholder interviews, to explore how HERA can strengthen its role and the EU’s broader health security framework. HERA’s focus on medical countermeasures fills previous gaps in the EU system, establishing it as a credible and recognised actor in global health security. Yet stakeholders highlight ongoing challenges, including coordination across the European Commission services, the strategic allocation of funding and in designing partnerships that are both effective and equitable.
Alongside the EU’s Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Strategies, the findings of this report underscore HERA’s centrality in crisis preparedness. Yet without clear resources and coordinated mechanisms, its capacity to respond rapidly and effectively to emerging threats may be constrained, limiting the EU’s leadership on the global stage.
To fully achieve HERA’s potential and its contribution to global health preparedness and equity, a clearer, more integrated approach within the EU’s global health framework is essential.
In early 2022, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) – in collaboration with CEPS, ISI, AIT and FEAM - launched a comprehensive strategic foresight process to enhance its preparedness and resilience against future public health threats. The initiative used methods like horizon scanning, scenario development, and stress-testing to explore future trends and challenges through 2040. The process identified five major clusters of threats and developed a set of robust, future-proof actions focused on improving communication and trust, expanding data capabilities, investing in interdisciplinary expertise, engaging vulnerable communities, and strengthening international cooperation.