The European Week of Regions and Cities (#EURegionsWeek) is underway. This is the 18^th edition of the largest event devoted to regional policy in the European Union. Due to the pandemic, this year's event is taking place in digital form. From 5^th to 22^nd October, you can participate in over 500 remote work sessions divided into three thematic blocks: "Empowering citizens in the EU", "Cohesion and Cooperation" and "Green Europe". 

The problem of fighting against the coronavirus pandemic has recently dominated our lives and has also become one of the topics discussed during the event. As a Programme actively involved in healthcare, we were invited by the European Commission to take part in the discussion panel "Health: cross-border cooperation in action" and to present our concept of supporting the inhabitants of borderlands through the projects implemented within the Programme.

The Programme has allocated an additional EUR 3 million from its savings to the medical projects, to support healthcare institutions in the fight against COVID-19. We work with each project individually to understand the scope of needs and introduce the necessary changes flexibly

- said Andrzej Słodki, the Head of the Joint Technical Secretariat of the Programme, during his speech.

Thanks to additional financial support, it was possible to purchase personal protective supplies and other equipment helping to fight the pandemic. You can find more information about it in an article published on our website.

Each cross-border project is an excellent opportunity to purchase modern diagnostic or therapeutic equipment, to improve the qualifications of medical personnel or to exchange experiences. Cross-border cooperation gives better results in research programmes or in the development of new treatments, as well

- justified Andrzej Słodki when presenting the involvement of the Programme.

Medical projects play an important role in the Programme. Such projects were already implemented in the previous 2007-2013 edition. In the current one, we have 13 medical projects for a total amount of 24.3 M EUR, including a large infrastructure project. Similarly, in the future 2021-2027 Programme, healthcare will continue to be one of the priorities aimed at improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of the border area.

The recording of the workshop on ‘Health: Interreg NEXT & IPA CBC in action’ in which Andrzej Słodki, the Head of the JTS, participated is available under the following LINK (Andrzej Słodki speeches starting from 32:10 and 59:15).