Activity 1.1 Present its paper 'Transforming European food and drink polices for cardiovascular health' to:
a. Food and drink stakeholders through the European Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
b. Members of the European Parliament through the MEP Heart Group
c. EU Member States through the Austrian Presidency
d. Selected Directorate Generals in the European Commission (EC), including DG SANTE, AGRI and TRADE

Activity 1.2 Respond together with its members to a public consultation as part of the impact assessment of a potential EU regulation on industrially produced trans fatty acids (TFAs) to help achieve FPA I-1

Activity 1.3 Analyse the planned EC Communication on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to enable us to engage appropriately with DG AGRI and achieve FPA I-5

Activity 1.4 Monitor, analyse and comment on EC plans on nutrient profiles further to the REFIT evaluation and continue to advocate for the setting of nutrient profiles as set out in FPA I-2

Activity 1.5 Monitor, analyse and report on the trilogue negotiations on the audiovisual media services (AVMSD) to our members in the context of FPA I-4

Activity 1.6 Participate in an EU Coalition on reducing marketing of food and drinks high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) to help achieve FPA I-4

Activity 1.7 React to the ‘EC dual products initiative, including food products, to help improve the nutritional quality of food placed on the market in the EU and help achieve FPA I-3

Activity 1.8 Explore the potential of the planned proposal to improve the EU food supply to help improve the nutritional quality of food placed on the market in the EU to help achieve FPA I-5

We are confident that key operational objective 1 is acceptable to the majority of the target groups for the activities listed above. We expect the non-health target groups, such as EC officials in Directorate Generals for Agriculture and Trade, to be more sceptical and, therefore, EHN plans a targeted outreach which will take into consideration their priorities; we will also demonstrate the economic gains to society as a whole that can be expected if policy changes, along the lines that we have recommend, can be achieved.
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Activity 2.1 Participate in the annual meeting of the European Action Network for Reducing Marketing Pressure on Children, which is established under the World Health Organization (WHO Regional office for Europe (WHO Euro) to help achieve FPA I-4

Activity 2.2 Ask to participate as an observer in the European Salt Action Network, which is established under WHO Euro to help achieve FPA I-3

Activity 2.3 Submit comments on the work of the CODEX Committee on Food Labelling with regard to front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling to help achieve FPA I-3

EHN has already participated as an observer in the WHO European Action Network on Reducing Marketing Pressure on Children and is hopeful that it will be acceptable to WHO Euro for EHN to participate in the European Salt Action Network given that salt reduction is an important intervention for the reduction of CVD, in particular stroke. EHN has a proven track record in working on FOP nutrition labelling and aims to provide input to CODEX Alimentarius.

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Activity 3.1 Support and be a member of the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) – EHN’s Director is currently the President of the SFP

Activity 3.2 Include members in and participate as EHN in SFP coalition and training meetings and activities

Activity 3.3 Support members in their tobacco control activities at national level

Activity 3.4 Co-organise an event on World No Tobacco Day with SFP

SFP needs the support from disease-specific organisations, such as EHN, where tobacco use is a major risk factor. SFP has tobacco control-specific expertise. Working on tobacco control with SFP presents economies of scale. Several of EHN members have recently adopted new strategies which include a renewed focus on tobacco control activities. Key operational objective 3 and its activities address FPA I-6.

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Activity 4.1 Update EHN’s paper on Cardiac and Stroke Rehabilitation following consultation with our members. The paper is for members’ use at national level (best practice and policy resource)

Activity 4.2 Publish a paper on heart failure to raise awareness about the disease in cooperation with our members. The paper is for members’ use at national level (information and policy resource)

Activity 4.3 Identify members’ expertise as well as how they work with national policy makers (e.g. around healthcare systems), to address knowledge and capacity-building needs as well as promote best practices among members

Activity 4.4 Undertake the necessary preparations for the 2018 Patient Seminar to continue supporting members’ (and therefore patients’) priorities as well as contribute to setting the 2019 key operational objectives

Activity 4.5 Explore opportunities on how to ‘bring the patient to the table’ of professional (medical) societies and researchers, by cooperating with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and EHN research-funding members

Activity 4.6 Develop a case study on a relevant patient engagement initiative carried out by one of its members to transfer experience to other members

In order to improve CVD patient and overall health outcomes, EHN and its patient member organisations agreed in 2017 on the need to elevate the patient voice across a number of policy and regulatory areas, including by exploring strategic collaborations with the medical and research communities. Key operational objective 4 and its activities address FPA II-8 and 9.


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Activity 5.1 Be a member of the Patients and Consumer Working Party (PCWP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as well as the topic groups on ‘digital media and health’ and ‘expanding patient input in regulatory processes’

EHN will attend the meetings of the PCWP and topic group calls, seeking members’ input when necessary, and will strive to bring one member organisation to one meeting in 2018. This objective and activity is based on the assumption that the EMA will continue the patient-related initiatives as regularly as it has in the past, notwithstanding its imminent relocation. Key operational objective 5 and its activity address FPA II-10 and 11.

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Activity 6.1 Develop a rationale for and identify representatives of member organisations to be part of a platform for EHN research-funding members

Activity 6.2 Collect top-line information on members’ expertise, ongoing CVD research and research priorities to assess collective capacity on and contribution to CVD research and communicate about it

Activity 6.3 Establish and hold a first meeting of the research platform to agree on an action plan and ensure implementation of follow-up actions

Activity 6.4 Initiate the work for a reflection paper on CVD research in post-2020 Europe

The EHN Board has called for a greater coordination among the research-funding members which, as stated in the FPA, represent about a third of all EHN members, and an investment of almost €200 million annually. In preparation for Brexit, and eventually a post-2020 Europe, it is necessary to first increase cooperation among EHN research-funding members so that the Network can: a) inform the ERA-CVD joint calls for transnational funding, b) call for continued cooperation between the UK and EU27 to the benefit of patients, and c) identify cardiovascular research that would benefit from EU research funding and formulate input on this for the EU’s ninth research framework programme (FP9). Key operational objective 6 and its activities address FPA III-12 to 14.

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Activity 7.1 Map, identify and update a database of key decision makers in the EU

Activity 7.2 Advocate for inclusion of objectives on chronic diseases in the EC’s implementation strategy outlining timelines, objectives and concrete measures to reflect the 2030 Agenda

Activity 7.3 Raise the absence of reference to SDG 3.4 in the sustainable development chapters in trade agreements

Activity 7.4 Develop, and disseminate among mainstream EU political groups and parties, a manifesto for the 2019 EU elections on why the EU must take high level of protection from CVD and other major chronic diseases into consideration in all its policies

Activity 7.5 Draft and publish the EHN 2017 Annual Report

Key operational objective 7 goes to the heart of the matter of the ‘health in all policies’ approach and the need to raise awareness of the impact that EU policies can have on CVD and other major chronic diseases; hence the need to make reference to them in policies such as sustainable development and trade. We appreciate that we will not necessarily be ‘knocking on wide-open doors’ but we have applied to be members of the EC’s Trade Expert Group (a new EC entity). We also believe that it is possible to relay to DG Environment the importance of including a commitment to achieving the SDG target on chronic diseases in EU policy on sustainable development.

The target group for our 2019 European election manifesto is self-explanatory. The target group for our Annual Report is all our stakeholders as outlined in our FPA.
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Activity 8.1 Meet regularly and contribute to the policy discussions led by relevant institutional stakeholders (WHO Euro and the European Health Policy Platform)

Activity 8.2 Engage with non-institutional stakeholders of which EHN is a member (European Public Health Alliance, European Chronic Diseases Alliance and World Heart Federation)

Activity 8.3 Meet and exchange views with other, like-minded, non-institutional stakeholders (including the ESC, European Association of Preventive Cardiology, BEUC, EuroHealthNet, EuroCare and the European Institute of Women’s Health)

In line with its FPA specific objective 20, and in addition to the primary target groups (EU policy makers and EHN members), EHN’s activities in 2018 will be underpinned by engagement with stakeholders, both at European and global level. This will help amplify EHN’s messages.

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Activity 9.1 Develop a communication strategy and materials with the support of a communications agency

Activity 9.2 Organise the 2018 Annual Workshop

Activity 9.3 Organise a capacity-building seminar for members following consultation on needs

Activity 9.4 Organise a seminar for members’ fundraisers

Activity 9.5 Keep its members informed of EU policy along with Europe-wide and global developments

Activity 9.6 Reach out to organisations in Europe which are not members of the EHN but could be interested in joining

To further key operational objective 7 and to refine the external dissemination/communication activities, EHN will invest in additional support. Other activities under key operational objective 9 have been designed to respond to members’ needs for support. As part of these activities, EHN will inform its members about the opportunities offered by the EU’s Solidarity Corps initiative.

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Activity 10.1 Develop a template for reporting progress on the 2018 Work Programme

Activity 10.2 Organise Board meetings

Activity 10.3 Provide financial and technical reporting to the Board

Activity 10.4 Organise the annual meeting of the General Assembly

Activity 10.5 Finalise EHN’s strategy 2019-2023

Activity 10.6 Prepare the annual audit and publish the audited accounts

Activity 10.7 Prepare an annual work programme and budget for 2019

Activity 10.8 Day-to-day management of the office

As set out in the FPA, EHN’s existing strategy runs until the end of 2018. While EHN’s Board and members have already agreed on the core elements of the new strategic framework for its next period, 2019-2023, a final plan must be agreed by EHN’s General Assembly in 2018.

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