The EU's first cardiovascular health plan targets a 25% reduction in premature deaths by 2035, but its final funding is uncertain. Spain also has a 2022 strategy whose new measures are difficult to launch without fresh national budgets.
Almost 80% of cardiovascular cases can be prevented or delayed, Ignacio Fernández Lozano says. The president of the Sociedad Española de Cardiología (SEC) argues that turning that potential into better outcomes depends on funding for the European plan and its national counterpart.
The EU's first cardiovascular health plan, the «Plan Corazones Seguros» (Safe Hearts Plan), was launched in December 2023. The European Commission identifies the initiative as the EU Cardiovascular Health Plan, also known as the Safe Hearts Plan. It aims to cut premature cardiovascular deaths by 25% by 2035. The plan also seeks better prevention and coordinated care, with earlier detection and treatment. The final budget remains unknown.
Fernández Lozano says the war in Ukraine and increased defence spending have put the planned funding at risk. The plan was expected to receive a budget comparable to the European cancer plan. He says the size of the eventual allocation remains unclear.
Spain faces a separate barrier. Its Plan Nacional de Salud Cardiovascular was published in 2022, but the absence of new national budgets makes it harder to start additional measures. Rolled-over budgets can sustain some existing activity; new programmes are harder to launch. Fernández Lozano says Spain has gone four years without national budgets and hopes new ones will be available in 2027.
The national strategy sets out more specific actions than the European structure. The Comisión Europea can set broad priorities, but cannot decide how each country organises its health system. Member states remain responsible for organising and delivering healthcare, including service configuration and financing. Spain's plan includes measures on cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest, along with the management of heart attacks without ST-segment elevation. The SEC president says the task now is to put those provisions into practice.
Digital records could help identify high-risk patients and support follow-up, but Fernández Lozano says information is poorly connected between levels of care. Patients can repeat tests when they move between centres or regions, while their clinicians cannot access earlier records. The European Health Data Space is part of the wider EU effort to improve how health information moves and is used. A European Heart Journal infrastructure survey reported a 34-percentage-point divide in readiness between European cardiology systems. It also highlighted interoperable data and coordinated care as implementation priorities. He argues that artificial intelligence could support automated early detection.
Spain's plan includes cardiac rehabilitation units and a cardiac-arrest response plan. Fernández Lozano says the latter has not been implemented because funding is unavailable. Electronic prescriptions could also help doctors monitor whether patients continue taking long-term medication. He says access to producing results medicines varies across EU countries and between Spain's autonomous communities.
A European Heart Journal analysis based on Global Burden of Disease 2023 data examines differences in cardiovascular disease patterns and risk factors between women and men. It calls for prevention that addresses behavioral risks and regional inequalities, with targeted, sex- and gender-responsive approaches. The analysis also identifies population-wide risk reduction and healthier environments as priorities.
For the SEC, the unresolved issue is whether governments will fund measures whose benefits may take time to appear. The European plan's final budget has yet to be established, while Spain's 2022 strategy still awaits implementation.
