Update on chronic disease reflection process

The EU approach to the challenge of chronic diseases requires an integrated response focusing on risk factors across sectors and policy fields, and on prevention, combined with efforts to strengthen health systems.

Consequently, and as a result of a set of conclusions of the Council of Ministers responsible for health (November 2010) the Commission launched a reflection process on actions to be taken in the field of chronic disease. As part of this process, a European wide stakeholder consultation was held, to which EuGMS responded. The outcome of this serves as input for an interim report(209 KB) which identified 2 main priorities for EU action on chronic diseases: 

• prevention & health promotion
• disease management with an emphasis on patient empowerment. 

Actions are now getting underway to implement these priorities. Therefore, under the 2013 EU Health Programme, a joint action has been launched with EU countries addressing chronic diseases & promoting healthy aging across the life cycle.

This joint action (called ‘joint’ because it is a cooperation between the Commission and the Member States) addresses the challenge of the increased burden that chronic conditions and diseases place on health systems and individuals in Europe, with a specific focus on multi?morbidity (co-existence of two or more chronic diseases in one person). The main objectives are to: 

• map across Europe new innovative actions in social media, behavioural science and new technologies, as well as more traditional actions on risk factors
• examine barriers to uptake for prevention, targeted screening of risk groups, and treatment of major chronic diseases (using diabetes as an example)
• look in more detail at how to address multi?morbidity and other complex issues in the framework of chronic diseases. 

For more information on the Joint Action: addressing chronic diseases & promoting healthy aging across the life cycle 

For more information on the reflection process: http://ec.europa.eu/health/major_chronic_diseases/reflection_process/index_en.htm