A new European Parliament report highlights the close connection between heart and lung health and calls for greater focus on prevention, early detection and joined-up care for long-term conditions, including COPD and sleep apnoea.
On World Lung Day (25 September 2026), the European Lung Foundation (ELF) welcomes a report adopted by the European Parliament that recognises the close connection between heart and lung health. The report calls for greater focus on preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across Europe.
NCDs are long-term health conditions, such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes and cancer. The report wants greater focus on preventing these conditions, finding them early and ensuring joined-up approaches across disease areas.
The report recognises that heart and lung conditions often occur together and are closely connected. It puts a spotlight on COPD and sleep apnoea, which are closely linked to heart conditions.
The report suggests that health policies should take a whole-person approach to preventing non-communicable diseases, looking at different conditions together instead of one at a time. This approach is likely to improve the health of people living with long-term conditions.
The report was published in response to the European Commission’s Safe Hearts Plan. This is the EU’s first major strategy focused on heart health. It aims to prevent heart disease by reducing risk factors such as smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise. Many of these risk factors also affect lung health, so actions to improve heart health can also benefit people living with lung conditions.
ELF and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) support calls for greater prevention of lung conditions. This month will see the start of the EU’s first Screening Week (28 September – 4 October 2026), which aims to raise awareness of health checks that can detect long-term conditions earlier and support prevention.
ELF Chair, Phil Taverner, said: “The adoption of this report is an important step forward for the health of people across Europe. ELF and ERS welcome the focus on lung health as part of the report. The inclusion of COPD and sleep apnoea shows progress towards better prevention strategies by working across disease areas.
“The next step is to ensure that these commitments lead to real action. Lung health checks should be a routine part of health assessments and everyone across Europe should have equal access to prevention and care.”
During Screening Week, ELF and ERS are encouraging the lung health community to organise lung testing events. These events help people take simple steps to protect their health and understand what actions can improve lung health.
Discover Healthy Lungs for Life activities taking place across Europe this September as part of EU Screening Week. Browse the events to find out what is happening in each country and how you can learn more about lung health.
Find EU Screening Week activities near you
Visit the Healthy Lungs for Life campaign website to learn more about the campaign, its resources and activities taking place across Europe.
Read more about recent ERS and European Lung Foundation advocacy on this topic.
