Greece’s experience in preventing cardiovascular diseases through the National Prevention Program “PROLAMVANO” was presented by Alternate Health Minister Eirini Agapidaki, at a special event on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases organized by EFPIA within the framework of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

“PROLAMVANO is the largest Public Health investment in Greece in the last 40 years,” she emphasized, presenting Greece’s strategy in the design and implementation of the Cardiovascular Risk Prevention and Management Program, which proves that prevention can be implemented on a national scale with tangible results.

Regarding the Cardiovascular Risk Prevention Program, over 1.8 million citizens have so far undergone free blood tests, more than 30,000 people were referred to the second stage of screening for coronary heart disease, while 7,127 were referred for ischemia screening.

“We used funding from the Recovery and Resilience Fund to develop the infrastructure for the program, which helped us overcome significant obstacles and, despite the challenges, implement an ambitious prevention plan that is already saving lives,” she said, noting that prevention is now becoming an essential part of citizens’ everyday lives.

Agapidaki underlined that the Program is changing the culture of Greeks in health matters.

The representatives of the EU Commission and the Member States congratulated Agapidaki and expressed interest in adopting the program. The experts participating in the panel noted that Greece paves the way for the pan-European cardiovascular plan that the European Commission will present by the end of the year.