Cardiovascular disease, one of Europe’s most costly health challenges, is receiving scant attention in Dutch policy, the Dutch Heart Foundation has warned.
The condition imposes an annual €282bn burden across the EU, according to a recent report by EFPIA, which urged Brussels to align its forthcoming Cardiovascular Health Plan with national strategies. The European Commission is expected to unveil its proposals by year-end, a move seen as pivotal for member states lagging on prevention and treatment.
“With the upcoming European cardiovascular Health Plan and the roll-out to individual European countries, we see the opportunity to work together towards a national action plan against CVD,” said Dave Krajenbrink, of the Dutch Heart Foundation.
A benchmark
The Foundation created the Dutch Cardiovascular Agenda, which it says could serve as the starting point for a national plan. It consists of seven key objectives that include earlier detection of CVD and delivering personalised treatment to every patient. The Foundation predicts that without concrete action, the number of people living with cardiovascular disease in the Netherlands could rise from 1.7 million to 2.7 million within a few years.
The Dutch CardioVascular Alliance (DCVA) also finds the Dutch government is not doing enough on CVD.
“To our surprise, there is nobody specifically dedicated to cardiovascular diseases at the Ministry of Health,” DCVA project manager Stephanie de Block told Euractiv.
De Block said that while there are several programmes addressing prevention and healthy living, they are fragmented and are not coordinated under a national strategy.
Late diagnosis
The Dutch Heart Foundation found that cardiovascular diseases are often diagnosed too late, with many people unaware they have a heart condition. While 241,000 people in the Netherlands are known to have heart failure, an estimated 255,000 more remain undiagnosed.
EFPIA suggested the EU should adopt a Council recommendation on introducing Cardiovascular Health Checks in primary care and support their implementation. Such checks would include screening for a range of risk factors that would allow for the earlier detection of CVD.
“This year, the Dutch Heart Foundation opened the Hartcheckpoints, which the Dutch population can visit to check their risk factors for CVD for free,” Krajenbrink said. “Our goal is to set up these checkpoints in all counties of the Netherlands.”
Through the Dutch primary care system, people with likely or known risk factors have access to a CVD risk management assessment, but the Foundation believes risk management should not rely solely on primary care but should become a broader societal responsibility.
Low uptake of flu vaccines
EFPIA’s report also noted that vaccination against flu can reduce CVD-related deaths by 33%. The Dutch Heart Foundation is becoming increasingly concerned about the spread of misinformation on vaccination and its effect on public confidence and uptake. It is working to counter misleading narratives on social media showing the protective cardiovascular effects of immunisation, grounded in Dutch data.
“We believe that medical experts and health charities must take the lead in public education, especially as trust in governmental institutions declines. Yet, sustainable governmental funding remains crucial to make this possible,” Krajenbrink said.
De Block said that despite the protection flu vaccines provide against cardiovascular deaths, uptake among high-risk groups in the Netherlands remains low at about 54-55%.
“While prevention is gaining attention in political programmes, the specific focus on cardiovascular disease is often missing,” De Block said. “The DCVA hopes that political parties will commit to reducing the burden of CVD by focusing on early detection, greater awareness and knowledge of stroke and heart failure, and better exchange of medical data.”
One year after the launch of the Cardiovascular Agenda, significant progress has already been made. Over the next months, aside from working towards the agenda’s measurable goals, the Foundation also aims to recruit more civilian emergency responders to strengthen its AED network. Its target is to ensure someone suffering from a heart attack can be resuscitated within six minutes.
“One in eight people in the Netherlands believes their death will be caused by CVD, while in reality this is one in four. This lack of public awareness contributes to the fact that CVD lags behind in governmental and policy attention,” Krajenbrink said. “We need to increase the urgency around CVD in order to improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.”
[VA, BM]
