Issue 387 | 31 March 2014

EU chronic diseases summit, nuclear safety, data protection, transport corridors and more...

EU health commissioner Tonio Borg kicks off our feature on the upcoming chronic diseases summit, warning that, “Currently, member states allocate a whopping 97 per cent of their healthcare budgets to treatment, leaving prevention with the scraps – a mere three per cent of their budgets.” The Maltese official also writes that, “In Europe, one in two adults, and one in three children aged between six and nine years old are overweight or obese, and therefore at risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mental health disorders.” Meanwhile, Greece’s health minister Adonis Georgiadis highlights the fact that “chronic diseases strike unequally hard on underprivileged populations groups”, adding that these conditions put a “strain” on Europe’s “economic and social development”.