MEP Digestive Health Group

Coordinating European action to reduce the burden of digestive diseases

A voice for digestive health in the European Parliament

The Digestive Health Group is a cross-party platform of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from different EU Member States. The group is chaired by MEP Romana Jerković and counts 15 MEPs. The group aims to raising awareness of the need for better prevention, improved treatment and greater understanding of the causes of digestive diseases. It draws attention to the real-life impact of digestive diseases, their socio-economic burden and it fosters health literacy to strengthen the competence of citizens to manage their health.

Key topics include:

Prevention & treatment of digestive diseases
Promoting a healthy lifestyle
Social and economic costs of (chronic) digestive diseases
Nutrition/ marketing polices encouraging healthy lifestyles
Mitigation of alcohol related harm
Digestive cancers: implementation of quality-controlled screening programmes; increasing standards in cancer care
Foster research on digestive health in Horizon Europe

Launching our new publication at the European Parliament

On April 26, 2023, we organized an event at the European Parliament that brought together digestive health experts and key stakeholders from the European health community for a lively and solution-oriented discussion on the current state of digestive health across Europe.

On this occasion, we also launched our latest publication on the burden of digestive diseases. Based on the key findings, we have issued an Open letter addressed to EU leadership with six policy recommendations to create a stronger policy environment for digestive health in the EU.

Read Open Letter

Want to learn more about the key findings from the discussion? Find a summary of the event in our press release.

Read press release

Meetings of the MEP Digestive Health Group

Digestive Cancers: Turning the tide through prevention (2022)

On May 16, the MEP Digestive Health Group convened a virtual meeting focused on the prevention of digestive cancers. The panel discussion centred around the current challenges and policy opportunities in cancer prevention and included a prominent panel of experts and policy makers.

Watch the full event

Read article