American and European Medical Societies Devoted to Prevention and Healthy Lifestyles Announce Partnership
Washington, DC (PRWEB) September 05, 2014 -- The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) and the European Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ESLM) have announced a partnership to advance preventive medicine and lifestyle medicine and improve education of health professionals and research worldwide in order to reduce the burden of lifestyle-related, non-communicable diseases globally. Today, lifestyle-related, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes represent a leading threat to human health and development. These four diseases are the world’s biggest killers, causing an estimated 35 million deaths each year - 60% of all deaths globally.
Despite their heavy burden, these diseases are preventable. Up to 80% of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes and over a third of cancers could be prevented by eliminating unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, mainly tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol. Unless addressed, the mortality and disease burden from these health problems will continue to increase. WHO projects that, globally, NCD deaths will increase by 17% over the next ten years.
This new alliance will take concrete steps to address the growing burden of NCDs. It will encourage the linkage of members of the two organizations in each other’s organizational initiatives; allow for collaborative research, education, policy and practice development, and communications projects; promote co-sponsorship of conferences; and facilitate consultation on preventive medicine training in European medical schools.
“Europe and North America share many of the same health problems. It just makes sense for ACPM and ESLM to be working together to address these problems. Achieving improved health status at both the individual and population levels are shared goals of ACPM and ESLM,” according to ACPM President-elect Daniel Blumenthal, MD, MPH, FACPM. “It is important to leverage the resources of organizations committed to supporting healthy behaviors and lifestyles through both clinical and public health approaches in a unified way. For that reason, as well as the opportunity to expand our messaging and branding internationally, ACPM is excited about this partnership.”
According to ESLM President Michael Sagner, MD, “Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are the single greatest cause of death and disability in the world today. There is a huge gap between what we know and what we are doing in health care to address this growing burden. This new alliance will work to bridge this gap, increase education and awareness and promote swift action to reverse the global pandemic.”
In today’s healthcare environment, the tools and expertise provided by preventive medicine physicians and lifestyle medicine practitioners play an integral role in ensuring effective functioning of our nation’s health system. These tools and skills include the ability to deliver evidence-based clinical preventive services and lifestyle counseling, expertise in population-based health sciences, and knowledge of the social and behavioral determinants of health and disease. These tools can be applied throughout the health care system to improve the health of populations, enhance access to quality care, and reduce the costs of medical care.
About the American College of Preventive Medicine
The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) is the national professional society for physicians committed to disease prevention and health promotion. ACPM was established in 1954. Its 2,500 members are engaged in preventive medicine practice, teaching and research. Specialists in preventive medicine are uniquely trained in both clinical medicine and public health. They have the skills needed to understand and reduce the risks of disease, disability and death in individuals and in population groups. For more information, visit http://www.acpm.org.
About European Society of Lifestyle Medicine
The European Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ESLM) is Europe’s leading professional medical society dedicated to research, prevention and treatment of lifestyle-related diseases/noncommunicable diseases. ESLM represents all nations in Europe and around the Mediterranean, and is a founding member of the Global Lifestyle Medicine Alliance (GLMA). Its members are physicians and other health professionals from all specialties related to chronic disease research, prevention and treatment. Join ESLM at http://www.eslm.eu.
Michael A. Barry, CAE, American College of Preventive Medicine, http://www.acpm.org, +1 (202) 466-2044 Ext: 106, [email protected]
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