Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the European Union, claiming around 1.7 million lives every year. The European Commission wants to tackle the problem with a new cardiovascular health strategy designed to set common standards for prevention and care and to strengthen national health policies. One of its main aims is to improve early detection and reduce gaps between member states in access to treatment.
“This is not a legal act, but a set of guidelines—common standards for the entire care pathway, from prevention all the way to transplantation,” said Adam Jarubas, an MEP from the Polish People’s Party (PSL) and chair of the European Parliament’s health committee (SANT), in an interview with Newseria. “We want to address Europe’s biggest killer—heart and circulatory diseases. Even today, more than 40% of deaths are caused by these conditions.”
In mid-December, the Commission published a strategic document titled “EU cardiovascular health plan: the Safe Hearts Plan.” In its introduction, the Commission states that cardiovascular diseases remain the EU’s largest public health challenge despite progress in prevention and treatment. They are the leading cause of death and disability in the bloc, affecting around 62 million people and resulting in 1.7 million deaths annually. The associated economic burden exceeds €282 billion per year, including €47 billion in lost productivity.
The document warns that without decisive, coordinated action across the EU, the cardiovascular disease burden will continue to grow. It cites international research estimating that between 2025 and 2050 global prevalence of cardiovascular conditions could rise by 90%, while deaths could increase by 73.4%.
Jarubas compared the initiative to the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan adopted in 2021. “We will start with diagnosis—showing the differences in access to the most advanced therapies and medicines,” he said. “We want to describe the entire pathway, implement treatment protocols, and also promote screening.”
Three pillars, supported by three cross-cutting priorities
The Safe Hearts Plan is built on three pillars: prevention, early detection and screening, and treatment and care, including rehabilitation. These pillars are supported by three main cross-cutting priorities: digital technologies, research and innovation, and addressing inequalities. The strategy is intended to reinforce national policies and improve coordination across the EU.
According to Jarubas, the Commission’s health commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, has also committed to seeking dedicated funding in the next multiannual EU budget, currently being prepared for the period after 2028. The goal, he said, is to ensure the plan becomes more than “a dry directional document,” by backing it with resources for research, modern therapies, and support for screening programmes in member states. The SANT committee is also working on a report that will serve as a review of the programme.
Targets for 2035
The strategy outlines several key objectives to be achieved by 2035. The first is to reduce premature cardiovascular mortality by 25% compared with 2022. Another target is to ensure that at least 75% of people aged 25–64 and at least 90% of those aged 65+ have their blood pressure measured at least once a year by a healthcare professional.
Similar targets are set for cholesterol testing: by 2035, at least 65% of people aged 25–64 and 80% of those aged 65+ should have cholesterol measured annually. The plan also includes comparable assumptions regarding the frequency of blood sugar testing in the same age groups.
“What clearly needs improvement is prevention and screening,” Jarubas said. “We know it pays to invest in prevention and detect these conditions early, because then treatment costs are lower. If we invest in prevention now, we reduce future spending on highly complex cases.” He added that the EU will begin by mapping areas most in need of support to help equalise access to modern services across countries.
Large disparities across the EU
Jarubas stressed that differences between member states are substantial, with Central and Eastern Europe lagging behind Western standards. Eurostat data show that in 2022 the cardiovascular death rate in Bulgaria was 6.3 times higher than in France.
“Professor Adam Maciejczyk from the Lower Silesian Oncology Centre once said that a person’s chances of recovery may depend on their DNA code—but should not depend on their postal code,” Jarubas noted. “I repeat that whenever I can.” He also pointed to improvements in Poland’s outcomes for heart attack patients, arguing that faster intervention and better-equipped hospitals have boosted survival. “But it remains the main killer in Europe, so we have ambitious plans to keep working.”
Poland’s cardiology network and the obesity challenge
In Poland, a law establishing a National Cardiology Network came into force in early July 2025. It aims to create a system in which hospitals and outpatient clinics operate under the same rules and standards, and where each patient’s treatment pathway is monitored. According to the authors of the law, this should speed up detection of health problems in the population and improve quality of care and treatment effectiveness.
“Poland has developed many strong cardiology centres, including invasive cardiology—where rapid procedures save lives,” Jarubas said. “Infrastructure has improved significantly. These procedures were also among the better reimbursed, which helped the system develop, including in private facilities. A structure has been created that works fairly well.”
The World Health Organization identifies overweight and obesity as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and the prevalence is rising at an alarming pace—particularly among children. Doctors warn that excess weight in early life can translate into serious cardiovascular conditions in adulthood.
A December report by Poland’s Institute of Mother and Child (IMiD) illustrates the scale of the problem. It found that one in three eight-year-old boys and one in four girls in Poland have an excessively high body weight. One in five boys and one in ten girls are obese. Nearly 46% of the children studied had elevated cholesterol, and the share of children with abnormally high systolic blood pressure increased by almost 10 percentage points between 2016 and 2023. The problem is now recorded in almost one third of Polish children covered by the IMiD data.
“We should look at this holistically, across the entire lifespan,” Jarubas said. “A huge problem in Europe—and unfortunately in Poland—is obesity. It starts with the fact that almost half of children already show elements of this issue, and in some cases we are talking about severe obesity, which can be linked to more than 200 associated conditions.” He argued that health education should be taught as a school subject, because lifestyle—diet and physical activity—directly affects a person’s chances of living in good health. In his view, prevention will be a major focus of the new EU strategy.
