On 15 July 2020, the European Health Network has published the annual report with reference to the activities carried out in 2019.
Considering the current world health crisis (almost 200,000 deaths from Covid-19), which has forced Europe to operate under a whole new set of conditions, the EHN decided to include, in addition to the highlights of the work carried out in 2019, some information related to Covid-19 and cardiovascular diseases. In particular, the EHN emphasized the need of learning the important lessons given by the pandemic crisis: “prevention is better than cure”. In this regard, it is necessary to reduce the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and invest in order to better face the burden of these diseases.
During the past year, the European Heart Network, with the aim of supporting its members in building skills and facilitating the exchange of knowledge, organized a successful annual workshop in collaboration with the Italian Association against Thrombosis and cardiovascular diseases (ALT Onlus) in Puglia, and several seminars, as well as a meeting of the EHN Research Platform for its research-funding members. In addition, in order to increase the knowledge about cardiovascular diseases and the role of EU policy makers in reducing the burden, some actors at European level were involved in many activities, as the President of the European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen and the Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides who was invited to develop an action plan for cardiovascular diseases in the EU. The annual report also documents the collaborations carried out by European Heart Network with European and international organizations, specifying some results achieved, such as the EU strategic framework for the prevention of non-communicable diseases, a plan developed jointly by the European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA), the European Public Health Alliance (EHN is a member of both) and the (global) NCD Alliance.
Further details: http://www.ehnheart.org/annual-reports.html
