Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular ailments, cancers and diabetes are currently among some of the most common illnesses in Europe. Therefore, the theme of this year’s European health forum Gastein, 'creating a better future for health in Europe', is timely.
Chronic diseases are more likely to affect older generations - around 80 per cent of European citizens over the age of 65 - and account for 86 per cent of premature deaths.
Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of all healthcare costs are spent on treating these illnesses, totalling over €700bn in the European Union. What's more, this figure is on the rise.
Many chronic diseases are preventable, or their onset or progression can be delayed. However, member states currently only spend an estimated three per cent of their healthcare budgets on prevention.
While the fact that these illnesses are increasingly common is significantly related to the ageing population, it is also linked to lifestyle risk factors, as well as social and economic determinants.
An unhealthy diet, tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption and a lack of exercise can all lead to chronic disease. A person's income and level of education can affect their ability to lead a healthy lifestyle and receive adequate healthcare.
The 'joint action on addressing chronic disease and healthy ageing across the life cycle' (JA-CHRODIS), launched in January 2014, is, to date, the largest joint action funded through the Commission’s and the member states' health programme.
It has a budget of €9.2m. Over 60 partners representing member states, research institutes and civil society are working together to promote and facilitate the exchange and transfer of good practice to address chronic diseases, promote healthy ageing and reduce health inequalities.
The project will run until March 2017, and consists of three focus areas - health promotion and prevention, multi-morbidity and type two diabetes. The partners started by analysing the general health promotion and primary prevention landscape and the gaps and needs of 14 European countries. The best practices identified will be exchanged during study visits in the final year of the project.
The JA-CHRODIS identifies the most cost-effective and transferable care models for multi-morbid patients - those suffering from more than one chronic condition - who often encounter fragmented, expensive and unresponsive care.
Multi-morbidity has become increasingly common in Europe, affecting 65 per cent of people over 65. For those over 85 years old, that number goes up to 85 per cent.
The group also focus on identifying comprehensive approaches for the prevention, early diagnosis, effective treatment and management of diabetes, as well as the training of healthcare professionals.
Partners aim to draw guidelines for the development or improvement of national diabetes plans making it possible to prevent and manage diabetes as well as
possible.
The JA has already found some quite significant differences between certain national diabetes plans. These plans are being gathered and analysed, with the aim of identifying the strongest elements within them that can be applied by other countries.
In 2013, 32 million EU adults - 8.2 per cent - had diabetes. This number could rise to 38 million by 2035. Diabetes is the fourth most common cause of death in Europe.
All good practices that have been identified through a strict scrutiny procedure will be made available on an online platform for knowledge exchange.
It will also provide tools that address European countries' real needs and priorities to address chronic diseases, including a digital library, an online helpdesk and a toolkit to help users develop, implement and evaluate practices.
The JA-CHRODIS partners and governing board - comprising representatives from health ministries - aim to support European Union countries in their efforts to address chronic diseases and promote healthy ageing.
The joint action is not designed to pinpoint an individual member state’s shortcomings, but rather to map state of the art practices, interventions, care models and policies to help one country learn from another.
JA-CHRODIS also helps to build synergies with other initiatives, to ensure that the tools developed in the respective work areas and the JA's website serve as key information sources for all policymakers engaged in addressing chronic diseases across Europe.