SP(2011)8668

Results of vote in Parliament

Debate in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the European Union position and commitment in advance to the UN high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

The resolution was tabled by the S&D, ECR, Greens/EFA, EPP, GUE/NGL and ALDE groups.

It urges the EU to advocate a bold goal for reducing preventable mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as the WHO goal of a 25% reduction in national mortality rates by 2025 as compared with 2010 rates. Parliament recalls that 86% of deaths in Europe are caused by (NCDs), the four most common NCDs being cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes, with cardiovascular diseases killing more than 2 million people every year.

Parliament calls on the EU and its Member States to endorse the following five key commitments and include them in the political statement to be issued at the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2011:

the reduction of preventable NCD mortality by 25% by 2025, as proposed by the WHO; the implementation of cost-effective and cost-saving interventions, including the speedier implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, better access to and the promotion of healthy diets, including action to reduce salt, sugar, saturated fat and transfat intakes, effective measures to combat the harmful use of alcohol, and access to and the promotion of physical activities, as well as a population-wide reduction in exposure to environmental pollution, including endocrine disruptors and other environmental contaminants; the monitoring of trends in NCD mortality and the common risk factors for NCDs; the development of global and national accountability mechanisms for all key stakeholders involved; the establishment in 2012 of a high-level partnership to foster the implementation of the recommendations and the organisation in 2014 of a high-level meeting to review the degree to which commitments have been honoured.

Members note that the majority of chronic NCDs can be prevented, more particularly by reducing or avoiding key risk factors such as smoking, unbalanced diets, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption and exposure to certain chemical substances. 97% of health expenditure currently goes on treatment, but only 3% on investment in prevention. Members call for a scaling up on primary prevention of, research into and early diagnosis and management of the four most common NCDs, without neglecting other important NCDs, such as mental and neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Preventive strategies for NCDs should be implemented from an early age.

Parliament welcomes the emphasis previous EU presidencies have placed on prevention and control of chronic NCDs, including the Spanish Presidency priority on cardiovascular diseases and the Polish Presidency conferences on ‘childhood chronic respiratory diseases’ and ‘Health Solidarity – closing the gap in health among the EU Member States’. It recognises that, under Article 168 TFEU, actions relating to health-care matters are primarily the responsibility of the Member States, but stresses the importance of establishing an EU strategy on chronic NCDs, to be followed by a Council recommendation , with individual sections dealing with the four most common NCDs and also taking gender specificities into account, in cooperation with relevant stakeholders, including patients and healthcare professionals. It calls for clear protocols and evidence-based guidelines to be established for the most common NCDs in order to ensure appropriate patient management and treatment across healthcare professions, including specialists, primary-care physicians and specialist nurses.

Member States are asked to establish national NCD plans , in particular on the four most common NCDs, by 2013, with resources commensurate with the significance of the NCD burden, and to set up a global high-level coordination mechanism for action on NCDs. The implementation of national NCD plans, associated with the more effective prevention, diagnosis and management of NCDs and risk factors such as pre-existing conditions and chronic and severe illnesses, could significantly reduce the overall burden of NCDs and thus contribute positively to maintaining the sustainability of national healthcare systems.

Lastly, Parliament goes on to ask the Commission to consider the possibility of extending the remit of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to encompass NCDs and using it as a centre for data collection and recommendation development on NCDs, thus providing policy-makers, scientists and doctors with details of best practices and greater knowledge on NCDs.

T7-0390/2011

B7-0488/2011

B7-0489/2011

RC-B7-0488/2011