The “Joint Action on integrating prevention, testing and link to care strategies across HIV, Viral Hepatitis, TB & STIs in Europe” (INTEGRATE) has the overall objective to increase Integrated early diagnosis and linkage to prevention and care of HIV, viral hepatitis, TB and STIs in EU Member States by 2020.
A number of tools have been developed to reduce transmission, optimize early diagnosis and linkage to care for one or more of these four diseases. INTEGRATE will map relevant existing tools for cross-linking. A peer-review process will identify which of these tools are complimentary or redundant for other disease(s), and which could be adapted or require further innovation.
HIV, viral hepatitis, TB and STIs are cross-borders public health threats of concern to Europe that affect vulnerable populations disproportionately and require personalised interventions. As multiple dimensional approaches are required to reduce the public health burden, the most optimal profile of approaches that provide additive effects (and that are reasonably cost-effective) should be identified and implemented broadly.
INTEGRATE provides a platform to disseminate and exchange best practice among Member States and facilitate discussions on innovations and emerging issues within the four diseases. In this respect, INTEGRATE is a shared European effort that extends beyond the partners and can create important synergies across European stakeholders, projects and initiatives.
INTEGRATE supports the implementation of the Commission Communication on ‘Combating HIV/AIDS in the European Union and neighboring countries’ and the ‘Action Plan on HIV/AIDS in the EU and neighboring countries’ by ensuring better preparedness across the EU and by identifying innovative evidence-based testing and prevention tools to reduce new cases of HIV, viral hepatitis, TB and STIs in priority groups.
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Europe is paying a heavy price for chronic diseases (CD): it has been estimated that CD cost EU economies 115 billion € or 0.8% of GDP annually; and this figure does not include the additional loss in terms of lower employment rates and productivity of people living with chronic health problems. However, the aspiration is a health-promoting Europe, free of preventable CD, premature death and avoidable disability could be possible. Initiatives on CD should build on four cornerstones: health promotion and primary prevention as a way to reduce the burden of CD; patient empowerment; tackling functional decline and quality of life as the main consequences of CD, and making health systems sustainable and responsive to the aging of our populations associated with the epidemiological transition (an increase in incidence of CD and extended life expectancy) whose consequence is an increasing prevalence of CD. In this Joint Action, CHRODIS-PLUS, our goal is to support Member States through cross-national initiatives identified in JA-CHRODIS to reduce the burden of CD, while assuring health systems sustainability and responsiveness. CHRODIS-PLUS aims to promote the implementation of policies and practices with demonstrated success in each of the four cornerstones mentioned, in closely monitored implementation experiences that can be validated before scaling them up. For this, a total of 42 beneficiaries representing 20 European countries will collaborate to implement pilots and generate practical lessons that could contribute to the uptake and use of CHRODIS-PLUS results. Practices to be implemented will be based on the collection of policies, strategies and interventions that started in JA-CHRODIS and in its outputs such as the Integrated Multimorbidity Care Model or the Recommendations for Diabetes Quality criteria or national plans. During the 36-month life CHRODIS-PLUS will disseminate its activities and monitor and evaluate them to verify the progress and impact of the action. CHRODIS-PLUS will look for synergies with international/regional/local policy initiatives in CD. CHRODIS-PLUS will count on the Governing Board of representatives from European Ministries of Health, key to CHRODIS-PLUS development and sustainability, an Executive Board and a General Assembly where all associated partners will gather. A proposal for the EU added value of cross-country collaboration in the field of CD and the sustainability of the results from JA-CHRODIS and CHRODIS-PLUS beyond 2020, when this project ends, will be approved.
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Smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption are considered the single most important cause of preventable morbidity and premature mortality worldwide. Efforts to reduce the devastation of tobacco-related deaths and illness in the EU consist of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The TPD lays down rules governing the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products. The TPD stipulates that Member States shall require manufacturers and importers of tobacco products to submit to their competent authorities information, via a common entry gate (EU-CEG) – an IT tool designed to ensure uniform application of the reporting and notification obligations, harmonise the submission of data, facilitate comparison and reduce administrative burden.

The general objective of the Joint Action on Tobacco Control will be to provide support for the implementation of the TPD throughout the 28 EU MS through the mining of EU-CEG data, supporting of laboratory collaborations and effort to evaluate priority additives. The specific aims of the project are:

• To ensure appropriate coordination and evaluation
• To support the dissemination of information to the public, regulators and researchers.
• To enhance the ease of access to the data collected through the EU CEG
• To monitor and provide support to the tasks of tobacco and e-cigarette product regulation
• Assist EU MS networking and collaborations between laboratories for tobacco evaluation.
• Support EU MS in the process of monitoring and updating priority additives
• To integrate the JATC results into national policies

With the above in mind, this proposal comes at a perfect timing to aid the regulatory activities that would be needed across the EU MS with regards to the implementation of the TPD across 28 EU MS spanning a population of 508 Million people.
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