MEP César Luena (S&D, ES) wrote to the European Commission on its new EU4Health programme which aims to ‘improve the resilience of health systems and ensure better health outcomes for all’.
COVID-19 has demonstrated the high risk of such pandemics among the elderly population, particularly in people with heart disease. Structural heart disease (SHD) is an age-related condition. Given the ageing of the European population, there is a double need to treat SHD wherever possible, both as a means of providing greater autonomy to the elderly and of reducing their vulnerability to epidemics.
- Does the Commission recognise the importance of early detection and treatment of SHD as a means of reducing the vulnerability of the elderly to epidemics?
- Does the Commission plan on recognising the early detection and treatment of SHD within the EU4Health programme?
- What other measures does the Commission plan on adopting to improve early detection and treatment of SHD?
The EU Commission agreed that SHD need to be raised, but could not yet give details on the EU4Health Programme as negotiations were still ongoing.
The question and answer can be found here: Structural heart disease