ESMO is a Founding Member of the European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA). The ECDA members represent over 100,000 health professionals and address cancers, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, kidney, respiratory and liver diseases.
The Alliance is lobbying for immediate political action at the European level, because chronic non-communicable diseases affect more than one-third of the population of Europe – over 100 million citizens - and account for 86% of deaths in the WHO European Region.
Latest publications (November 2014)
- ECDA Advocacy Manifesto 2014: calling on the European Union to develop a comprehensive European Framework on Chronic Diseases by the end of 2017.
- ECDA Information Brochure 2014: presenting the Alliance, its members, its mission and its key activities at the EU level.
Main achievements
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2012: European Chronic Disease Alliance input to the European Reflection Process on Chronic Diseases
Recognising that not all disease can be prevented, the European Chronic Disease Alliance carefully considered how to improve the organisation of health care and the necessity of biomedical research in the EU. This resulted in the European Chronic Disease Alliance input to the European Reflection Process on Chronic Diseases in 2012, and four Annexes to the paper outlining specific policy recommendations at the EU Member State level.
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2010: ECDA White Paper on Chronic Disease
In 2010 the European Chronic Disease Alliance members united to publish a joint paper on prevention called the ECDA White Paper on Chronic Disease. The main focus of the paper is the prevention of non-communicable diseases by addressing common risk factors, which are tobacco use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity and alcohol consumption.
ESMO has contributed significantly to the Alliance:
- Editorial in Annals of Oncology on Chronic diseases and cancer
- Editorial in Public Service Review: European Union on Cancer prevention and lifestyle choices
- A joint session on Chronic Diseases at the ESMO 2010 Congress