Work in Parliament Burden of Structural Heart Diseases in Europe

Question for written answer E-004765/2020 to the Commission
Rule 138
Maria da Graça Carvalho, Brando Benifei

Age-related heart conditions such as Structural Heart Diseases present a growing challenge to a healthy ageing in Europe.

While we're experiencing a dramatic ageing of our society our cultural views of ageing have not kept pace with the scale of this demographic shift. Too often we dismiss symptoms of functional decline and treatable conditions as a “natural” part of ageing. With the increasing prevalence of age related diseases SHDs are expected to affect over 23 million EU citizens by 2050which will be highly burden for the sustainability of healthcare systems and will increase healthcare inequalities.

A cultural shift is needed to include the elderly population as a crucial and active part of our society and an EU coordinated policy response shall be established. However, DG EAC’s 74-page Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 mentions ageing but once.

1. What does the Commission intends to do to tackle this problem and propose clear actions?
2. Why for, instance, the DG EAC Strategic plan for 2014-2020 barely mentions ageing instead of campaigning for all EU citizens to pay closer attention to symptoms of age related diseases such as SHDs?
3. What's the opinion of the Commission on a joint action between Member States to address this issue?