The European Commission is stepping up its work on prevention, in particular for cardiovascular diseases, as announced in President von der Leyen's political guidelines.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the EU, claiming 1.7 million lives each year. They also contribute significantly to disability, early retirement, and absenteeism, which lowers the quality of life and reduces life expectancy.
These diseases cost the EU over EUR 282 billion annually due to decreased productivity and economic output.
EU cardiovascular health plan: the Safe Hearts Plan
The Safe Hearts Plan was unveiled by the European Commission on 16 December 2025, as part of an overall health package. It is the first ever EU approach to tackling cardiovascular disease, Europe’s number 1 killer, and is a part of the European Health Union.
The Safe Hearts Plan addresses the key challenges across the EU related to cardiovascular diseases, focusing on the special needs of vulnerable population groups such as children and young people and women.
It supports Member States and stakeholders on health promotion and prevention, early detection and screening, treatment and care (including rehabilitation) of cardiovascular diseases.
The Safe Hearts Plan contains the following 10 ambitious and impactful flagship initiatives with EU added value:
- A lifelong, personalised and digitally enabled prevention programme – ‘EU cares for your heart’
- Empowering consumers through information on food processing in the EU
- Modernising tobacco control legislation
- The Commission will examine which appropriate tools, including possible financial actions, could be deployed to support/fund public health actions in the field of primary prevention and stimulate food reformulation and healthier consumer choices
- Proposal for a Council recommendation on vaccination against respiratory infections as a preventive measure for cardiovascular diseases
- EU protocol on health checks for cardiovascular diseases
- Proposal for a Council recommendation on personalised treatment and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases
- Incubator for innovation and integration of AI and digital technologies in cardiovascular healthcare
- EU cardiovascular health inequalities dashboard
- Cardiovascular Disease Research and Innovation Roadmap.
Prevention is the most cost-effective way of addressing the burden of cardiovascular diseases, and the key risk factors such as diabetes and obesity. As cardiovascular deaths are 8 times higher in some Member States than in others, the Safe Hearts Plan will support Member States in developing national cardiovascular health plans and help those that already have a national plan, to further implement it.
The plan will give people more control over their own heart health, by supporting personalised tools and approaches, while tackling risk factors at the population level.
The Safe Hearts Plan aims to address the existing gaps in research and innovation, make use of the opportunities offered by digital and innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence and to reduce health inequalities between Member States, regions and population groups.
In addition to these major public health benefits, the Safe Hearts Plan aims to contribute to a stronger, more resilient and more competitive EU, by reducing the impact of cardiovascular diseases (as well as diabetes and obesity as they are closely related) on the economy and boosting EU innovation in this field.
- Communication on an EU cardiovascular health plan: the Safe Hearts Plan
- Questions and answers
- Factsheet
State of cardiovascular health in the EU
The 2025 joint OECD/Commission report, funded by the EU4Health programme, delivers an in-depth situational analysis of cardiovascular health trends, including risk factors, multimorbidity, and healthcare pathways and health outcomes across the EU. The report was launched on 10 February 2026.
A dashboard has been developed that provides an interactive platform to visualise cardiovascular health across the EU. It offers a comprehensive situational analysis of cardiovascular disease outcomes and key risk factors with clickable icons, and tooltips.
Data sources on the OECD website
The dashboard covers all EU Member States, Iceland, and Norway and draws on multiple international data sources, including OECD Health Statistics, Eurostat, the World Health Organization, and the 2025 OECD Cardiovascular Policy and Data Survey. All data are freely available for download via the “Download the data” button, and the dashboard is optimised for desktop viewing in full-screen mode.
Towards the Safe Hearts Plan
The Safe Hearts Plan was developed in consultation with Member States, stakeholders, and citizens.
- Member States
The Expert Group on Public Health (PHEG) is the main forum for discussion with the Member States on how to tackle this public health challenge. The PHEG subgroup on prevention of non-communicable diseases discussed cardiovascular health on 10 July 2025 and the PHEG discussed it on 9 October 2025.
- Stakeholders
A first stakeholder webinar was held on 16 May 2025, during which stakeholders were given the opportunity to present their views on how to improve cardiovascular health in the EU.
A second stakeholder webinar took place on 29 September 2025.
On 22 September 2025, the Commission engaged directly with young Europeans in a webinar to hear their perspectives and personal stories on cardiovascular health.
- Call for evidence
A call for evidence on the cardiovascular plan provided the opportunity for stakeholders and citizens to help shape the Safe Hearts Plan.
- Thematic Network on Youth Engagement in NCD Prevention
A Thematic Network on the EU Health Policy Platform is strengthening the role of young people in policies and practices that aim to prevent non-communicable diseases, including on cardiovascular diseases.
Overview of already ongoing actions on cardiovascular health
The 'Healthier Together' initiative - which is our strategic framework to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases - addresses health determinants, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
The Commission has invested more than EUR 160 million from the EU4Health programme to support Member States and stakeholders to address the burden of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes:
Joint Actions between Member States to improve Europe's heart health:
- The Joint Action on Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes, JACARDI, funded with EUR 53 million.
- The Joint Action PreventNCD on addressing health determinants, funded with EUR 76 million.12/9/25, 10:28
Stakeholder-led projects on the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and on health determinants, funded with around EUR 9 million:
