EONS welcomes the new EU NCD initiative – Healthier Together

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, mental disorders, neurological disorders, or cancer are responsible for 80% of the disease burden in the EU countries and are the leading cause of avoidable premature deaths. In addition to Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the European Commission is working on a new Healthier Together – EU Non-communicable diseases initiative, to support EU countries in reducing the burden of NCDs, focusing on five key areas:

• cardiovascular diseases
• diabetes
• chronic respiratory diseases
• mental health and neurological disorders
• health determinants

In the coming months, priorities, actions and synergies with policy areas relevant to the reduction of NCDs burden will be discussed with EU countries. EONS welcomes this initiative and will be actively supporting it within the EU Health Policy Platform stakeholders network.