From 18th to 20th September, the city of Vilna in Lithuania was the host selected to kick-start the European Commission CHRODIS-PLUS Joint Action.
The prevalence of chronic diseases in Europe is on the increase. This translates into greater consumption of healthcare resources by patients suffering from them. Chronic diseases are estimated to cost the European Union economies €115 billion, which accounts for 0.8% of their annual GDP. The new project CHRODIS-PLUS intends to help reducing the burden of chronic diseases while ensuring the sustainability and response capacity of healthcare systems, promoting the implementation of policies and translational initiatives identified in the CHRODIS Joint Action . In particular, the transfer of good practices which are proven to be effective in a European region to other neighbouring regions, will be encouraged.
The project aims to boost knowledge and implement innovative strategies on health promotion and chronic diseases prevention in Europe and focuses on:
- Health promotion and primary prevention as a way to reduce the burden of chronic diseases;
- Patient empowerment;
- Approaching functional impairment and quality of life as the main consequences of chronic diseases; and
- Sustainability of healthcare systems and ageing from an epidemiological point of view.
CHRODIS-PLUS is an initiative driven by most European countries. Kronikgune and Osakidetza are members of a consortium of 42 organisations and institutions from 18 European member states joined by Norway, Serbia and Iceland. The kick-off meeting held at Vilna was the first contact among the partners and facilitated the definition of the roles and responsibilities to be embraced by each partner until the end of the project in August 2020.
16 policies and 22 pilot projects will make up the core of this Joint Action. 14 national policies and 2 European policies will be analysed to raise the awareness of decision makers about improving healthcare systems to address chronic diseases. Likewise, projects addressing the following areas will be implemented: health promotion and primary prevention; integrated care models for complex chronic disease patients; quality of care for patients with chronic diseases; empowerment based on new Information and Communication Technology (ICT); and employment and chronic diseases.
Kronikgune and Osakidetza, will play a very active role in the project, as they will be responsible for designing the common strategy for the implementation of good practices for innovation. To do so, a series of methods and techniques facilitating the adoption, implementation and sustainability of actions will be used. Moreover, they will participate in identifying stratification strategies and tools in different countries.
For further information about the project, visit Chrodis official website: www.chrodis.eu
