During the second challenging year of the pandemic, EHN together with its members, took the initiative to bring cardiovascular health higher on the European policy agenda.

EHN is therefore pleased to present its Annual Report 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of disruption across Europe, however it also put the spotlight on health and sparked renewed recognition of health as wealth. It exposed weaknesses in health systems and highlighted the scale of the human and economic burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD). In light of this, EHN worked tirelessly together with its members to not only address the challenges brought on by the pandemic, but to also harness new opportunities for rethinking cardiovascular health and care in Europe.

2021 was a year of significant milestones, policy work, and growth at EHN. Some notable achievements include:

• The European Alliance for Cardiovascular Health (EACH) was launched was launched during a high-level policy debate attended by representatives of European Commission, Member States and European Parliament. EACH, an alliance made up of 17 European and international health organisations, published a Joint Statement
• The European Commission launched its ‘Healthier Together Initiative’ with a specific CVD strand which aims to support Member States in their effort to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. EHN welcomes this initiative which focuses on 4 disease areas, including CVD, and one horizontal area, health determinants. Further development will take place in 2022.
• EHN was accredited as a non-state actor at the 71st WHO Regional Committee for Europe meaning that EHN will be invited to participate at the annual Regional Committee meetings as an observer and submit written and oral statements, as well asrecord video statements to be published on the WHO Europe website.
• EHN published several reports, position papers and statements on topics related to primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease

Exhibited in the report, EHN stands firm in its vision that ‘every European has a right to a life free from avoidable cardiovascular disease’. It describes EHN policy work and EU policy development for advancing cardiovascular health in Europe, including early detection of CVD, digitalisation for innovation, changing food environments, EU policy on food and nutrition, and tobacco control and smoke free policies. In line with this vision, EHN continues its commitment to represent the patient voice through the EHN Patient Working Group and by linking patients with the research and medical community.

Read the full report to learn more about how EHN works with EU Institutions and EHN’s collaborations in 2021 with organisations like WHO Europe, European Society of Cardiology, European Association of Preventative Cardiology, World Heart Federation, European Chronic Disease Alliance, Smoke Free Partnership, and European Public Health Alliance.