“Chronic diseases are largely preventable and in this respect the European Parliament has a major role to play” says Frieda Brepoels, chair of the MEP Group for Kidney Health.

In a joint statement issued at the end of the meeting, MEPs call upon the competent authorities in the member states to urgently develop and improve policies aiming at tackling chronic diseases.  “A higher investment in prevention is needed”, continues Frieda Brepoels, “in particular by raising awareness about common risk factors and promoting healthy lifestyles”.

Four major health determinants – tobacco, poor diet, alcohol and lack of physical activity – account for most chronic illness and death in Europe. Addressing chronic diseases will allow Europeans to live longer and healthier lives, stay longer in the workforce and contribute to reversing the alarming negative labour force growth which is predicted for 2020.

High tobacco and alcohol taxes, smoke free environment, good nutrition labelling which helps consumers make healthy choices and measures to prioritise the needs of pedestrians and cyclists over those of motorists in urban areas are but some of the few measures that politicians should put in place.

Alojz Peterle, Member of the European Parliament and President of MEPs Against Cancer (MAC), one of the co-organisers of the event said: ‘We urge MEPs, the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and national governments to work together to tackle the problem of chronic diseases. It is only by working in partnership that we will be able to put in place effective Europe-wide policies aimed at preventing these conditions that cause so much suffering and death each year. Prevention is undoubtedly cheaper than disease management and treatment and, therefore, it makes economic sense to pursue these policies now at a time when many national governments are having to curb their expenditure.’

The co-chairs of the four MEP Groups strongly supports the initiative taken by the trio of the European Union presidencies to give priority to the prevention of chronic diseases and support the initiative of the Belgian Council presidency to raise awareness on the burden of chronic diseases at its upcoming conference of 19 – 20 October.

The discussions on primary prevention on non-communicable chronic diseases in Europe were inspired by the recommendations contained in a policy paper recently published by the Chronic Disease Alliance , a coalition of 10 non-for-profit European organisations representing over 100.000 health professionals, who have joined forces to put the case for immediate action to reverse the alarming rise in chronic diseases.

The organisers of this MEP meeting call upon the competent authorities in all Member States to commit to reducing the burden of chronic disease. “Investment in interventions to control the burden of chronic diseases will bring appreciable economic and social benefits to society”, concludes Dirk Sterckx, MEP and co-chair of the MEP Heart Group.

They also called all EU head of states to contribute to and to attend the United Nations high-level meeting of the General Assembly in September 2011 on the prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases.

Notes

Chronic non-communicable diseases kill 86% of all people in the WHO European Region.  Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes, kidney and liver diseases account for more than 40% the disease burden in Europe.   Heart disease, stroke and diabetes alone are projected to lead to loss of national income in the billions, e.g. almost $33 billion in the United Kingdom (from 2005 to 2015).

Prof John Martin, from the ESC Prevention committee who spoke at the meeting, said: “The conference was strategically very important for furthering prevention of heart disease in Europe. There was widespread consensus that the time is right – both politically and scientifically – for a major push from European member states, professional organisations and patient groups to achieve higher levels of commitment to decrease the burden of CVD disease, death and suffering.”

The ESC, he added, has real hopes that as a result of the meeting, a comprehensive EU strategy on cardiovascular disease will be taken forward in the “troika” of the Spanish, Belgium and Hungarian presidencies. The ESC’s long term approach of fostering political partnerships between professional bodies, the EU and member states, Prof Martin added, had been totally validated by the outcomes of the meeting.

The “Conference on Cardiovascular Disease” programmes provided an overview of the risk factors that CVD has in common with other chronic diseases, including tobacco and alcohol consumption and lifestyle. In his talk Prof Martin reviewed the progress that the EU has made in addressing cardiovascular disease prevention since 2002, when the last Spanish Presidency of the EU first put CVD on the political agenda.

The lack of comparable data on CVD across Europe was highlighted as a major barrier to the introduction of prevention strategies across Europe, with calls for data bases to be linked both within countries and across borders. Health inequalities (a recurring theme of the Spanish Presidency) were identified for age, gender and social class, with inequalities existing both between countries and within countries. Particular concerns were raised about the increasing numbers of young women smoking in different countries. While Population strategies for risk factor screening were felt to be effective, the need was identified for a better evidence base with improvements in the mapping of existing programmes.

On the second day sessions reviewed the implementation of best practice CVD strategies including anti smoking policies in Ireland, and programmes to reduce the intake of transfats in Denmark. “The success of such programmes illustrates that intervention by member states against heart disease really does work,” said Prof Martin.

References

For more information, check the Spanish presidency website.