Prevention over Profit: Breaking the Silos to Put Health First

Europe can reduce mortality from non-communicable diseases by curbing exposure to commercial risk factors

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, account for over 80% of deaths in the European Union. Almost two-thirds of these deaths are directly linked to modifiable risk factors and could be prevented by reducing exposure.

The FILTERED Final Conference, held in Brussels on 3–4 November 2025, brings together European civil society leaders, EU and national policymakers, and researchers to agree on concrete solutions for further cooperation and to consider adequate prevention measures for the protection of people’s health, for current and future generations. The project aims to make prevention a shared priority and renew the collective commitment to placing public health above industry interests.

“The commercial forces behind tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy foods are creating an unprecedented industrial epidemic in Europe. Only coordinated action by civil society can safeguard public health and tackle inequalities.”
— Florence Berteletti, CEO of Eurocare and Project Lead of the FILTERED consortium

What is at Stake

Commercial determinants of health shape the environments in which people make choices. Corporate products and practices drive the uptake and spread of key risk factors across the population. Each year in Europe, tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy and ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, and fossil-fuel–related pollution are responsible for an estimated 2.7 million deaths, accounting for more than 7,400 lives lost every day in the WHO European Region.

These industries not only share harmful health outcomes, they also deploy similar strategies to weaken public-interest regulation, delay implementation, and undermine accountability.

Commercial determinants are inseparable from social determinants of health. While everyone is affected, children, young people, and those facing social and economic inequities carry a disproportionate burden.

“While we ask civil society to work together, we also call on the EU to take decisive action to reduce the harm to human health caused by alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy food and drinks, while ensuring that public health policies are protected from industry interference.”
— Birgit Beger, CEO of the European Heart Network (EHN)

What Works

There is a strong, well-established policy toolbox at EU and national levels. Effective measures include:

• Raising taxes and prices on health-harming products;
• Restricting marketing, promotion and sponsorship of these products, especially where they reach children and adolescents;
• Limiting the physical availability of unhealthy products, with robust protection measures for young people;
• Informing consumers through health warnings and front-of-pack labelling.

In this context, and in view of the upcoming EU Cardiovascular Health Plan, European Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi declared that the Plan will also address the commercial determinants of health with actions that include:

• Revision of the European Tobacco Taxation and the European Tobacco Products Directive;
• Action on unhealthy and highly processed foods;
• Action on alcohol.

Prevention is also smart economics: despite accounting for less than 3% of health spending in many countries, prevention delivers exceptional value, with studies indicating returns of up to 14:1 for every euro invested.

About the Conference

The FILTERED Final Conference convenes stakeholders to translate evidence into action and align on next-step commitments. By moving from silos to synergies, and by bringing together civil society, institutions and governments around evidence-based, population-level NCD prevention and health promotion measures, the conference seeks to foster collaboration to make prevention a shared public health priority across European policymaking.

It represents a renewed collective commitment to placing public health above industry interference and is an occasion for civil society to reimagine its strategies for resilience, solidarity, and collective action.

“Whether it’s tobacco, alcohol or ultra-processed food, the tactics used by harmful industries are the same: delay, distract, and deny. Europe needs to stand united behind prevention and make sure that health policy serves the public interest, not the commercial agenda of those profiting from disease.”
— Erin Roman, Director of the Smoke Free Partnership

The Conference will culminate in the launch of the European Declaration on Reducing Harm from Tobacco, Nicotine, Alcohol and Unhealthy Food — a public health manifesto urging the EU and its Member States to treat public health priorities as a core component of European security and resilience.

This goal must be achieved through three main pillars:

1. Reducing harms from alcohol, tobacco, nicotine, and unhealthy food and drinks through population-level policy measures;
2. Protecting public health policy from industry interference;
3. Defending civil society’s capacity to act.

Follow EHN on LinkedIn and Bluesky for live updates throughout the conference.

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Media Inquiries

Alessandra Boschi
Advocacy and Communication Coordinator, EHN
aboschi@ehnheart.org