Simon Lande
“Prevention, prevention, prevention” – the rallying call from Sandra Gallina, Director General of DG SANTE at the European Commission, set the scene for the core theme that ran through the 10th Politico Health Care Summit in Brussels, on 18th and 19th November.
The scale of the challenge
The non-communicable disease (NCD) burden across Europe is not just a public-health challenge, it is a systemic risk to health systems, economies and social equity.
NCDs remain the leading cause of death and disability in the world, including in the WHO European Region, where 1 in 5 men and 1 in 10 women die before 70 years of age from NCDs such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes (1).
Each year in the WHO Region, there are 1.8 million avoidable deaths from NCDs that are either preventable through effective public health measures or treatable with timely access to quality health care.
Furthermore, an economic loss of 2% of the gross domestic product of the EU is suffered as a result of cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and type 2 diabetes (2).
Meanwhile, health systems are under intense pressure: ageing populations, increasing multimorbidity and growing demand for chronic-care services are converging. The consequences for hospital capacity, workforce demands and back-office costs cannot be ignored.
Insufficient investment in prevention
It is widely accepted that prevention and early detection of NCDs can deliver more efficient healthcare to populations and alleviate health system pressures.
However, the EU average disease prevention spending of 2.8% is considered insufficient (2). The OECD states that there has been an under-investment in prevention in Europe and advocates that as much as 20% of the EU4Health programme budget should be allocated to health promotion and disease prevention.
Investment should also be carefully targeted towards at-risk populations who suffer disproportionately from poor health outcomes and account for the majority of healthcare resource utilisation.
What emerged clearly at the Politico Health Care Summit this year, is that prevention must pivot from a peripheral concept to a system-level anchor. Key shifts discussed included:
Several of the speakers reinforced different aspects of these key themes.
Ruud Dobber, Executive Vice President and President, BioPharmaceuticals Business Unit at AstraZeneca, started on a positive note, enthusiastically conveying that we are living through one of the most exciting periods in medical science, with innovative medicines keeping people healthier and new modalities poised to transform devastating diseases around the world.
However, he warned that European countries are falling behind other nations – both in terms of investment in innovation and in ensuring timely access to new treatments for patients in need.
Early diagnosis is key and can be transformative for societies, health systems and economies – with fewer hospitalisations, healthier populations, and lower overall costs.
Dobber urged that in view of the growing burden of chronic diseases and a rapidly ageing population, the time is now to harness these benefits and ensure that Europe can be a place where the next generation of medical breakthroughs begins – and delivers – for all.
Oliver Bisazza, CEO of MedTech Europe highlighted the importance of innovation in healthcare and emphasised that Europe’s health sector isn’t a machine to be fixed; it is a vision for us to collaborate on and redefine what is possible together.
“At the centre of this conversation are not systems, policies, or frameworks — but people.” – Oliver Bisazza
On a panel session discussing the rise of NCDs, Alex de Giorgio-Miller, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Medical, AstraZeneca, articulated the need for improved access to treatment, and improved adherance to clinical guidelines. Optimising treatment in this way would reduce hospitalisations and ease pressure on health systems. The shift to primary care is part of the answer, but community-centric prevention is also essential to reducing avoidable hospitalisations, especially in under-served populations.
Systems under strain – prevention as the release valve
Health systems in Europe were designed largely for episodic, acute care – but chronic, long-term disease demands a different architecture. Two years ago, in November 2023, The Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) held a high-level meeting on NCDs at the European Parliament, in Brussels.
The PHSSR’s NCD policy report provided a vision for a comprehensive approach to NCDs at an EU level and a key recommendation in the report was to “increase and ensure sustainable, dedicated EU investment in prevention and early detection of NCDs under the next Multiannual Financial Framework.”
Evidence-based policymaking
The rising tide of NCDs is not inevitable. As the conversations at the 10th Politico Health Care Summit made clear, bending the NCD curve will depend on decisions grounded in evidence rather than optimism. Health systems need a clear picture of how chronic disease is evolving, which interventions make the greatest difference, and where prevention will deliver the strongest returns. This is where robust modelling, transparent data and realistic forecasting play a critical role.
At HealthLumen, our focus is on generating the kind of evidence that helps policymakers understand future burden of disease, assess prevention strategies and plan with confidence. Europe already has the insight and momentum needed to shift from reactive care to proactive prevention – what matters now is turning evidence into action. Prevention is no longer an optional axis, it is the foundation for sustainable, resilient health systems of the future.
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