Joint Action Grants (HP-JA) 3rd EU Health Programme

 

Current EU Health Information Systems are fragmented, dispersed, and difficult to access. This leads to comparability issues and inequality in health information between and within European Member States (MSs).

 

The overall aim of the JA on Health Information (InfAct-Information for Action) is to work forward a sustainable solid infrastructure on EU Health Information for evidence-based health policy and research, by improving the availability of comparable, robust and policy-relevant data for health status, health determinants, and health system performance assessment (HSPA).

 

InfAct was launched in March 2018 and will run till February 2021. It is coordinated by Sciensano in Belgium, and includes 40 partners from 28 EU and associated countries.

 

Through country collaboration, the JA streamlines HI activities, reduces the data collection burden and works for a sustainable and robust data collection in Europe that facilitates and supports country knowledge, health research and policy making.

InfAct carries out its work through ten work packages (WPs):

• WP 1-3 Coordination, Dissemination, Evaluation (WP1 and WP2 lead: Sciensano, Belgium; WP3 lead Institute of Hygiene, Lithuania)
• WP 4 Integration into national policies and sustainability (WP lead and co-leads: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain; Santé Publique France, France)
• WP 5 Status of health information systems in the EU (WP lead and co-leads: Robert Koch Institute, Germany; Ministry of Health, Malta)
• WP 6 Strengthening health information systems in the EU (WP lead and co-leads: Ministry of health, Portugal; National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland)
• WP 7 Provide proof of concept for a sustainable structure (WP lead and co-leads: Sciensano, Belgium; National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands)
• WP 8 Tools and methods for health information support (WP lead and co-leads: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy; National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands; National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia)
• WP 9 Innovation in health information for public health policy development (WP lead and co-leads: Santé Publique France, France; Institute of Hygiene, Lithuania)
• WP 10 Assessing and piloting interoperability for public health policy (WP lead and co-leads: Croatian Institute for Public Health, Croatia; Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud, Spain)

To achieve the overall aim, InfAct focuses on:

• development of the business case and roadmap for implementation of the HIREP-ERIC (ERIC on Health;
• Information for Research and Evidence-based Policy) (WP7), including governance;
• structures and national HI consortia and domain-specific HI research networks;
• a holistic HI system to better understand the dynamics of population health, the performance of the health;
• systems, and the interaction and impact of health on societal pillars such as the social and economic
• development;
• assessment of HI systems in MSs and regions through peer review by MSs (WP5);
• priority setting in HI development (WP5);
• development of a roadmap for training in HI of professionals working in HI with the objective to tackle HI;
• inequality within MSs and throughout Europe (WP6);
• methods for implementation of high standard HI instruments, tools and methodologies (WP8);
• strengthening the efficiency of the HI system for public health policy and research through new ways of
• using health and non-health data sources, and composite health indicators (WP9), and through use of new;
• (e-)technologies in HI (WP10);
• the introduction of the interoperability of health data instruments and sources (WP10);
• the translation of HI into public policy (WP4);
• mutual learning of MSs through exchange of best practices (WP5-10).

The JA watches over the sustainability of all actions taken by the JA (WP4). A good communication strategy, coordination, dialogue and interaction with the European Commission (EC) Expert Group on Health Information (EGHI) and the Expert Group on Health System Performance Analysis (EGHSPA), with Eurostat, DG Research and other relevant DGs, and with international organizations (WHO, OECD, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, IANPHI) further reinforce the sustainability of the JA’s work and outcomes (WP1,2).

 

Added value at EU level in the field of public health: The JA will improve the availability of comparable, robust and policy-relevant health data and information by (I) providing tools and methods for HI support through innovation in HI for public health policy development, and (II) by assessing and piloting interoperability for public health policy. Additionally, the JA will work towards the setup of a sustainable infrastructure on HI. It will reduce HI inequalities by strengthening countries capacities and enhancing HI priority setting methodologies and practices.

 

Expected outcomes: The major expected outcome is a sustainable solid infrastructure on EU HI (i.e. HIREP-ERIC) facilitating research and evidence-based health policy-making across MSs by improving the availability of comparable, robust and policy-relevant health data and information. This will strengthen the basis for monitoring the health status of EU citizens and the performance of EU health systems, such monitoring being of key importance for effective and efficient policy-making and evaluation.