While healthcare is managed by Member States, the EU can drive change through
Keep People Healthy through public health interventions
Improve Lives, Not Just Outcomes
Close the Gaps
Effective, equitable prevention can save millions of lives and reduce long-term costs.
Key EU-level actions should include:
Ensure early risk detection through systematic screening for hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, and atrial fibrillation in primary care
Improving access to affordable, healthy, plant-based diets
Allow people to grow up and live in smoke-free environments by including all tobacco products, nicotine products, and vapes while revising EU tobacco legislation
Develop policies that reduce alcohol consumption in the EU
Strengthen air pollution legislation in the EU
Promote physical activity in urban and local areas
Living with CVD should not mean living with stigma or reduced quality of life.
We urge EU and Member States to:
Protect individuals with CVD from discrimination in employment and insurance policies, enshrining equal treatment as a legal and social norm.
Ensure meaningful patient involvement in health policy, system design, and research.
Expand access to comprehensive, inclusive rehabilitation, with specific support for young patients, including mental health, education, and career guidance.
Modern, well-funded research is essential to fight CVD and tackle inequalities in care.
The EU should:
Promote innovation-friendly regulations to accelerate access to lifesaving diagnostics and therapies.
Increase investment in CVD research with a focus on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Address persistent gaps by prioritising underrepresented populations, particularly women, children, and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.
Support research into sex-specific symptoms, hormonal impacts, and paediatric CVD.
Every pillar above must address health inequalities. CVD disproportionately affects those in lower socioeconomic groups, and any EU-level strategy must aim to reduce disparities in exposure, access, and outcomes across the Union.
EHN calls on EU policymakers to deliver a truly all-encompassing European Cardiovascular Health Plan, building on existing tools and aligned with EU competences in public health, internal market, environment, research, and social policy.
The time for fragmented action is over.
The time for a unified, strategic EU response is now.