Europa Uomo joins call for an EU continence health strategy

Europa Uomo has joined with 22 scientific, professional, patient and non-profit organisations to aims to raise awareness among EU and national policymakers of continence health problems and to instil the need for action.

In a new manifesto entitled “An urge to act: transforming EU continence health”, the organisations make ten high-level recommendations to European and national policymakers to recognise the importance of patient-centred continence care.  These include:

• develop a comprehensive EU continence health strategy
• facilitate effective pathways to ensure that the needs of those living with incontinence are met
• guarantee access to toileting facilities in public and private spaces.

It also promotes a holistic understanding of the links between continence and healthy ageing and disease areas such as cancer, mental health and neurological problems and several other comorbidities such as obesity. There needs to be increased funding for continence health research, says the manifesto.

The manifesto builds on the findings of a report commissioned by the European Association of Urology on the costs of continence health problems. It estimated that the cost of continence care in 2023 will reach an estimated €69.1 billion and will rise to €90 billion by 2030 if no action is taken.