In 2019 EHN will focus on creating awareness of the human and economic burden of CVD among newly-elected MEPs and new EU Commissioners and their cabinets (new EU mandate). We will do so by intensifying interaction and communications with the new EU mandate and organising a meeting at the end of the year, to present our proposal for a plan for action on CVD in Europe.

We do not expect any major new policy developments in 2019, due to the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and the change of EU Commissioners, so we will grasp the opportunity to review our papers on e-cigarettes, CVD risk assessment programmes and physical activity. We will update them with the most recent evidence and disseminate them widely to selected target audiences. We will continue to work on policies that are going through the legislative process, debated in European Fora, or likely to be taken up at EU member state level. Policy areas include agriculture; trade; food information (front-of-pack labelling) and composition (trans fatty acids); and marketing of HFSS food to children.

A key role, as a member organisation, is to support our members by providing information, enhancing their capacities, and facilitating knowledge-exchange. Our role is also to enable them, and their constituencies, to participate in and influence debates on health policy, policies that impact on cardiovascular health, and health regulations. To that end we will organise five meetings for our members and commission research, including on e-/mHealth and how it benefits cardiovascular patients. 2019 will also see the EHN Research Platform swing into action.

In conclusion, we believe that our 2019 operational objectives and the activities we have selected to achieve them, will contribute to achieve the general and specific objectives of our FPA. We believe that putting cardiovascular health on the agenda of new MEPs/Commissioners will benefit EU citizens as well as the EU economy.



Main objectives: The three main objectives of the proposal are: prevent avoidable cardiovascular diseases (CVD); strengthen the support for people with CVD; and reinforce cardiovascular research.

How to achieve: The whole population needs to be addressed as well as those at high risk of and those already living with CVD. Therefore, the proposal’s intervention logic is to target policy makers, especially at EU level, to effect changes in policies to achieve small reductions in risk factors across EU’s population of about 500 million, and thus reducing the overall number of people at risk of CVD. The intervention logic, with respect to individuals at high risk for CVD and those already living with it, is to enhance member organisations’ capacity to support patients and fund optimal research. Activities to underpin the intervention logic include a) effective dissemination to EU policy makers of evidence for action (advocacy); b) training and exchange meetings for member organisations (capacity-building and knowledge-sharing); and c) strategic interaction with stakeholders (cooperation/engagement with alliances).

Relevance to the work programme: Two priority areas of the 2017 work programme are: 1) prevention and health determinants; 2) chronic diseases. The proposal’s activities address these head on. CVD make up a substantial part of the chronic disease burden accounting for 19% of all DALYs (on a par with cancer). Tackling CVD is essential for the EU and its member states to achieve international targets on chronic diseases, i.e. a 25% reduction in premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2025; and to reduce premature mortality from NCDs by one third by 2030 (Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 3). The proposal’s activities focus strongly on promoting cost-effective promotion and prevention measures in line, in particular, with the EU strategy on diet and nutrition. The proposal is highly relevant to third health programme’s thematic priorities
