Safer Internet Day 2024 – Addressing risks of digital services to mental health and well-being across HaDEA-managed programmes

In February every year, Europe and beyond celebrate Safer Internet Day (SID). This landmark campaign is encouraging everyone to actively participate and engage in Internet safety activities. We must all be aware that increased digitalisation brings challenges alongside opportunities, and digital services can expose everyone, especially children, to risks that may impact their mental health and well-being. 

The European Strategy for a Better Internet For Kids (BIK+ Strategy), adopted by the European Commission in May 2022, promotes safe digital experiences, digital empowerment, and active participation, with a number of activities led by youth to foster safe digital experiences. The continuation of implementation of the BIK+ Strategy is mentioned in one of the 20 flagship initiatives in the Commission’s comprehensive approach to mental health , adopted in June 2023. This new approach provides a total of €1.23 billion in funding from different financial instruments, including programmes implemented by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) on behalf of the European Commission. 

Digital Europe Programme 

Below are some useful resources related to mental health and well-being developed by Safer Internet projects funded under the Digital Europe Programme: 

• The Dutch Media Literacy Network, member of the Safer Internet Centre in the Netherlands, published a dedicated Starting guide for healthcare professionals, and launched Leukeronline.nl, an online guide for professionals working in mental health care with the aim of supporting the digital literacy of care providers and equipping them with tools to properly guide their clients in the use of online media.  

• The Safer Internet Centre in Italy offers trainings (Seminario I, Seminario II and Seminario III) dedicated to professionals with the objective of improving their media literacy.  

• The Safer Internet Centre in France has developed resources in cooperation with health professionals such as self-training modules for parents and professionals working with young people and families, and the FamiNum.com, a tool to help parents establish a framework for the use of screens in order to prevent addictive behaviour. 

EU4Health 

In January 2024, HaDEA started implementing an initiative on strengthening the multidisciplinary dimension of mental health through capacity-building and trainings of health professionals and other professionals working at community level. This initiative aims at setting the basis for a new European blueprint for a comprehensive approach to capacity-building on. 

The objective of this three-year action is to organise 270 days of training for 3600 people across the 27 EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Ukraine, who will improve their competences and skills to better address the multidimensional aspects of mental health needs and to increase mental health resilience of the mental health workforce. The course modules will address the mental health of the general population with a focus on specific populations groups including children, adolescents and youth to better respond to their needs and support for mental health, also considering the effects of spending more and more time online and on social media. The multidisciplinary training programme will be followed by a cross-border exchange programme among mental health professionals across 29 countries (27 EU countries, Norway and Iceland).  

Horizon Europe - Cluster 1: Health 

• The Bootstrap project aims to mitigate the risks emerging from problematic internet use (PUI) that has adverse effects on the health and well-being of individuals, especially teenagers. Having started in July 2023, the project is monitoring the internet usage patterns of young people across Europe, identifying PUI behaviours that result in harm, and devising strategies to tackle these issues. It will also develop policy toolkits to understand the psychological mechanisms underlying PUI and craft policy interventions accordingly. 

• The Coordination and Support Action IDEAHL – Improving Digital Empowerment for Active Healthy Living aims at developing and testing new models and approaches to develop and apply digital health literacy interventions through the co-creation of a comprehensive and inclusive EU digital health literacy strategy. The action's ultimate purpose is the empowerment of EU citizens in using digital tools to take a more active role in the management of their own health. 

Background information 

The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) manages EU programmes delegated by the European Commission - such as Horizon Europe, EU4Health and the Digital Europe Programme - which bring together, among others, projects in the domains of health and digital technologies, that enable important synergies across different fields, including mental health, ultimately for the benefit of all EU citizens.  

The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) builds on and continues to support the work of SICs which has already been carried out under the Connecting Europe Facility - Telecom between 2015 and 2021. DIGITAL aims to build the strategic digital capacities of the EU and to facilitate the wide deployment of digital technologies. With an overall budget of €7.5 billion, out of which €0.8 billion is managed by HaDEA, the programme supports investments in the following sectors: 

• High Performance Computing 

• Cloud, data and Artificial Intelligence 

• Cybersecurity 

• Advanced digital skills 

• Accelerating best use of technologies 

HaDEA manages actions under Cloud, data and Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Digital Skills and Accelerating best use of technologies. 

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and tenders from 2021 to 2027. 

Horizon Europe is the research and innovation programme of the EU for the period 2021-2027. The aims of Cluster 1 ‘Health’ include improving and protecting the health and wellbeing of citizens of all ages by generating new knowledge, developing innovative solutions and integrating a gender perspective to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat and cure diseases. 

Useful resources 

Communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health 

European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) 

Better Internet for Kids portal