Transforming European food and drink policies for cardiovascular health

Despite considerable progress in tackling cardiovascular diseases, it remains the leading cause of death and a major cause of illness and disability for men and women in Europe and in the EU. More than 49 million people in the EU live with CVD. Each year, more than 1.8 million people in the EU die from CVD.(1)

The members of the MEP Heart Group gathered on 24 April 2018 in the European Parliament to see how transforming European food and drinks policies can contribute to better cardiovascular health.

Prior to the MSP Management Committee meeting on 14 March 2018, EHN and the other ECDA members wrote to First Vice President Timmermans to impress upon him how important it is that the sixth Reflection Paper ‘Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030’ addresses the challenges that the EU and its Member States face because of the large and increasing burden of chronic diseases. To ensure effective attention to this challenge, the ECDA suggests the creation of a “horizontal” sub-group on Health and Social Policy, which would go to the very heart of ‘Better Regulation’, ensuring a coherent and streamlined policy development and echoing EU citizens’ calls for more European-level decision-making in dealing with health and social security issues. Please find a copy of the letter here.

Eleven organisations including the European Heart Network (EHN) representing patients across the UK and Europe have alerted EU negotiators to the risk of drugs getting stuck at borders, regulatory systems for medicines splintering and potential breakthrough research collaborations being forced to stall.

In a joint letter to Brexit negotiators Michel Barnier and David Davis, the organisations make a plea to both sides of the negotiations not to forget about patients.

EHN, EPHA and Freshfel Europe ask Commissioner Hogan for concrete mechanisms to support the future CAP’s objective of healthy sustainable diets to achieve a triple win for economy, environment and health.

The European Heart Network (EHN), the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and Freshfel Europe have today written to European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan asking for concrete mechanisms and sufficient budget to support the European Commission’s Communication on The Future of Food and Farming’s prominent objective of healthy sustainable diets. In the letter, the three organisations affirm that through a smartly designed future CAP, the EU can address its citizens’ concerns and achieve a triple win for economy, environment and health.

Please click here for the EHN statement on the future of food and farming.

Please click here for a joint statement by BEUC, EHN and EPHA on simplified front-of-pack nutrition labelling.

Despite considerable progress in tackling cardiovascular disease (CVD), it remains the leading cause of death and a major cause of illness and disability for men and women in Europe. Dietary risks are responsible for around half of the death and disability caused by CVD and may cost the economy of the European Union economy €102 billion a year.

Please click here for the EHN statement of support for the introduction of a legislative limit on trans fats in Romania.

Please click here for the EHN Annual Report 2016.

BigData@Heart project is breaking new ground in the development of treatment for millions of patients with heart disease in Europe.

The objective of BigData@Heart is to develop a data-driven translational research platform of unparalleled scale and phenotypical resolution, with the aim to improve patient outcomes and reduce the societal burden of atrial fibrillation, heart failure and acute coronary syndrome.

The 19 partners of the BigData@Heart consortium, coming from academia, medical associations, the pharmaceutical industry, SMEs and patient organisations are:

• University Medical Center Utrecht
• Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• European Society of Cardiology
• European Heart Network
• University College London
• University of Cambridge
• International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement
• Fundación para la investigación del Hospital Clinico de la Comunidad Valenciana
• Karolinska Institutet
• Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
• MLC Foundation
• University of Birmingham
• Uppsala Clinical Research Center, Uppsala University
• BAYER
• NOVARTIS
• SERVIER
• SomaLogic
• Vifor Pharma
• The Hyve

Please click here for the BigData@Heart press release on this project.