The Annual Work Programme 2018 of the European Union’s Health Programme was adopted on 13 December 2017. The work programme announces a number of funding mechanisms to support activities in the field of rare diseases, notably for European Reference Networks (ERNs) for Rare Diseases, the codification of rare diseases with the ORPHA nomenclature, and the Orphanet rare disease knowledge base.
Nearly 30% of the €62 million budget outlined in the 2018 programme will be dedicated to the European Reference Networks for rare diseases that were designated in 2017 and that involve more than 900 highly-specialised healthcare units from over 300 hospitals in 26 Member States. To support the implementation and networking activities of these ERNs, in particular in their coordination, communication, capacity-building and exchange of information and best practices, multi-annual specific grants are proposed in the work plan with a dedicated 13'800’000€ earmarked for successful applications.
The work plan proposes also includes a call for a specific service contract for the technical assistance to the ERN Board of Member States and assessment of healthcare providers in the scope of the next round of applications from healthcare providers to join the existing ERNs, foreseen in 2018...
Full details concerning the work plan can be found: Here
