Abstract
December 2016 saw the inaugural European Digestive Health Summit, hosted by United European Gastroenterology (UEG) in Brussels. With the aim of addressing the impact of digestive health on sustainable healthcare in Europe, the highly successful event brought together gastroenterologists from all over the continent. Together, digestive health experts called on policymakers in the European Union (EU) and EU Member States to promote better prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases for the benefit of healthcare systems and society by means of healthy nutrition, better access to healthcare, and increased research funding. Among the speakers were representatives from the European Commission, the current and upcoming presidencies of the Council of the EU, and key European health organisations. The concluding keynote address was given by the Minister for Health of the Republic of Malta, the Honourable Minister Christopher Fearne.
Consisting opening and closing plenaries and three sessions, a number of vital topics were discussed and identified as important to improving public health and guaranteeing sustainable healthcare in Europe in the long-term. A consensus was reached across a variety of key areas, including a need for greater investment in primary care, health promotion and disease prevention; improving added value funding programmes such as Horizon2020 and research and innovation programmes in the EU Member States; preventing chronic non-communicable diseases by promoting healthy lifestyles, food reformulation, food labelling, and restrictions on advertising of unhealthy food and nutrients, and making health information concerning disease prevention, including better access to (colorectal) cancer screening programmes, more readily available.
Experts across the field of gastroenterology presented on subjects ranging from the impact of childhood nutrition on future digestive health, to the lack of knowledge among the general public, policy makers and experts regarding colorectal cancer (CRC).
UEG President, Professor Michael Manns, highlighted the importance of a high-level EU forum to discuss the impact of digestive health on sustainable healthcare in Europe, and promoted UEG as the only organisation of its kind on a global scale, uniting leading European societies and over 22,000 experts concerned with digestive health. Professor Manns also explained the central role UEG plays in providing a forum for discussion, consensus building, and ultimately, impacting policy decisions which is absolutely vital to the advancement of GI related health legislation across Europe.
A key issue discussed at the Summit, and one which will be of particular importance in the coming year, is pancreatic cancer. Dr Sorin Barbu from the European Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (ESSAT) presented on the specific challenges related to the early detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer, and called for more research funding for early diagnosis. Pancreatic cancer is on course to be the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Europe by 2030 if current trends cannot be arrested and the struggles with the disease are multitudinous. Late diagnosis, aggressive behaviour of the tumour, and the lack of funding for early diagnosis and new treatments were identified by Dr Barbu as the dominant causes for this prognosis.
He said that investment in diagnosis could concentrate on biomarkers, genetic markers and comprehensive screening; while new targeted, personalised treatment and new drug delivery pathways would improve the prognosis of patients.
The European Digestive Health Summit was deemed a significant success by those present, placing UEG at the forefront of driving the digestive health agenda in Europe and within the European Parliament and setting the scene for an annual UEG summit in Brussels.