Lobbying Activity
Response to EU cardiovascular health plan
15 Sept 2025
The Europe Region of World Physiotherapy, the organisation representing the physiotherapy profession in Europe, calls for the integration of Physiotherapy in the prevention, management, and rehabilitation strategies of the EU cardiovascular health plan. Physical inactivity is a key modifiable risk factor responsible for over 125,000 deaths in Europe annually. Exercise as a core component in the primary and secondary management of NCDs remains under-utilised, under prescribed and frequently overlooked, often in favour of costlier pharmacologic or surgical interventions despite its unequivocal clinical and cost-effectiveness. Physiotherapists, as the expert healthcare professionals in physical activity and exercise prescription, are key to tackling this challenge, offering safe, evidence-based, and cost-effective interventions across the care continuum: - Primary prevention: physiotherapists undertake individual assessment, prescribe exercise programmes and education that empower people to take action that will help to reduce and/or manage cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, obesity, inactivity). - Secondary prevention and rehabilitation: physiotherapist-led cardiac rehabilitation, including supervised exercise and behaviour change support, improves functional capacity, prevents hospital admission, reduces length of hospital stay readmission rates and lowers mortality being more cost-effective than many pharmacological options. - Chronic management and integration: physiotherapists play a vital role in multidisciplinary teams ensuring continuity of care, personalised and individual exercise plans in outreach programmes in the community that reduce readmission frequency and enable shorter hospital stays as well as support for long-term lifestyle. Based on the evidence, the Europe Region of World Physiotherapy makes the following recommendations: 1. Foster the incorporation of exercise-based interventions as a key pillar of Member States plans and programmes dedicated to cardiovascular health, ensuring the inclusion of national Physiotherapy professional organisation as key stakeholders for the conception of such plans. 2. Call on Member States to ensure that physiotherapy services are accessible across Europe, particularly for vulnerable groups, advocating that financing prevention and early management is an investment and not an expense. 3. Support and fund research to further showcase the cost-effectiveness of exercise and to optimise and scale up physiotherapy-led interventions. 4. Include the Europe Region of World Physiotherapy as a stakeholder in any potential European network, project or campaign that could be created under the future EU Cardiovascular Health Plan. The Europe Region of World Physiotherapy expert group document on Non-Communicable Diseases, is attached to this communication. The document, which was launched at the conference New ways and initiatives in healthcare diseases under the auspices of the Hungarian presidency of the EU (November 2024), provides more detailed information on the role of physiotherapy in NCDs, including cardiovascular disease, along with the scientific references that support this communication. A clip from one of the webinars of the Europe Region of World Physiotherapy discussing the sustainability of cardiac rehabilitation through physiotherapy is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g846sWFkGLE We are at your disposal for any collaboration or assistance. And can be contacted by email at: generalsecretary@erwcpt.eu ; secretariat@erwcpt.eu
Read full responseResponse to A comprehensive approach to mental health
14 Feb 2023
Europe region World Physiotherapy, organisation representing the physiotherapy profession at European level applauds this initiative and looks forward to a holistic approach that focuses on prevention and which includes ALL mental health professionals. Physiotherapy in Mental Health (MH) is implemented in different conditions - in primary and community care, in inpatient and outpatient settings, in psychiatric and psychosomatic medicine. It is person centred and provided to children, adolescents, adults and elderly with mild, moderate or severe, acute and chronic MH problems. For over 50 years, physiotherapy has had a long and strong tradition in MH education and clinical practice. The main tools used are physical activity, body awareness therapies, and body-mind exercises with a specific training in communication and psychosocial approach. Scientific evidence shows the effectiveness of these interventions. Physical activity shows positive effects on symptoms of mental illness, quality of life and/or physical health in mental illness. Regarding depression, being physically active shows benefits, even at levels of activity below the public health recommendations. The type of exercise can be aerobic, resistance training or mixed at moderate intensity. Research shows that it can also be a viable adjunct treatment in combination with antidepressants. Moreover, exercise is effective in improving symptoms of anxiety and stress-related disorders and cognitive functions of elderly people without dementia living in nursing homes. For people with substance use disorders, moderate and high-intensity aerobic exercises improve symptoms of depression and anxiety. Body awareness therapies can be defined as a body-oriented therapeutic approach using a holistic perspective directed towards an awareness of how the body is used. It has demonstrated the benefits regarding eating disorders, chronic pain, post-traumatic disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression. Mind-body exercise focuses on mind, body, psychology, and behaviour, including breathing and physical exercise and meditation. As an example, Yoga is effective in relation to MH at different stages of life such as old age and pregnancy. A sedentary and inactive lifestyle is one of the major issues regarding MH. Significant links were found between greater amounts of sedentary behaviour and both increased psychological ill-being (i.e. depression) and lower psychological well-being (i.e. happiness) in children and adolescents. Active university students are happier than their inactive peers. A forced inactivity (i.e. pandemic) leads to poor MH. Promoting physical activity is essential for the wellbeing of the population and in particular in adolescents and children, as physical activity patterns tend to track into subsequent adulthood. Moderate aerobic exercise results positively in a wide range of symptoms in most MH diseases being the dose and frequency irrelevant in the results obtained. Adherence to physical activity is key. For that question, young people need to get into the habit and incorporate physical activity into their daily lives as an important part of their self-care. Physiotherapists can lead a programme to accompany them in the discovery of the activity that best suits them. The programme could include motivational analysis, behavioural and biopsychosocial aspects to accompany them in discovering their favourite physical activity and get adherence. Physiotherapists could be included in the community services to implement physical activities programmes as agents of prevention and health promotion. Physiotherapists in MH provide tools to assess and treat MH diseases that could be implemented in an individual or group setting saving the government's socio-economics costs via prevention and care. In conclusion, Physiotherapy, as the health profession with expertise in physical activity, is a key player in MH and should be included in the public national MH services.
Read full responseMeeting with Kasia Jurczak (Cabinet of Commissioner Marianne Thyssen)
29 Jan 2019 · Skills agenda, Blueprint for Sectoral Skills