On 15 November 2022, leading Members of the European Parliament Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy) and Maria da Graça Carvalho (EPP, Portugal) with the support of the SHD Coalition, hosted the hybrid event “A Concrete Case to Beat NCDs In Europe: Early Detection of Structural Heart Disease” in the European Parliament. More than 70 stakeholders from EU institutions, national parliaments, health experts and patients came together to discuss Structural Heart Disease, and why the EU should act now to improve the detection. The participants highlighted that despite the heavy burden of SHDs on patients, healthcare systems and European societies in general, EU Member States still lag behind in early detection and raising awareness of SHDs, and underlined the existence of successful local initiatives that effectively address these issues and that could be used as inspiration in other countries.
To ensure improved early detection of Structural Heart Disease, the European Union must back with appropriate resources and proper ways to share best practices and cross-learn on these initiatives, leveraging the EU Non-Communicable Disease Initiative-Healthier Together, as well as the upcoming Joint Action on Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes (JACARDI), but also moving beyond. it is still of primordial importance to use these opportunities to improve the understanding and capacities on early detection on SHD, and to enhance resources that will support to effectively address SHDs in the long term.
The contribution of the SHD Coalition can be found here.