Advancing multimorbidity care as part of healthy ageing

14 May 2025
Virtual

Event highlights

As part of European Public Health Week, WHO/Europe, the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) and the EUPHA Healthy Ageing Section co-hosted a virtual event titled “Transforming multimorbidity care: prevention, early identification, and tailored approaches in Europe.” The session explored how countries are responding to the rise of multimorbidity – particularly among older adults – by adopting more integrated and people-centred models of care.

Screenshot for people at an ageing webinar.

The event was opened by Charlotte Marchandise, Executive Director of EUPHA, and moderated by Emilia Aragón de León from WHO/Europe. Presentations spanned topics from cutting-edge research to on-the-ground innovations:

  • Ivan Bautmans, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), discussed the risks, trends and pathways linked to multimorbidity.
  • José Cerezo, WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care (Kazakhstan), introduced population health management approaches.
  • David Sgorbati, The Health Economics Unit (Midlands and Lancashire, United Kingdom), shared insights on AI-supported analytics in England.
  • Inês Vale, family doctor at Unidade Local de Saúde do Litoral Alentejano (Portugal), highlighted clinical pathways to support patients living with multiple chronic conditions in rural regions.

“Addressing multimorbidity requires a shift in how we design care systems – moving away from single-disease models towards integrated, equitable and proactive approaches that meet people’s real needs as they age,” said Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of Country Health Policies and Systems at WHO/Europe.

Participants emphasized the need for stronger primary care, better early identification tools and digital skill-building for health professionals to support people living with multimorbidity.

The event also contributed to the co-development of the forthcoming WHO/Europe strategy “Ageing is living: promoting a lifetime of health and well-being (2026–2030)”. The strategy aims to equip Member States to build systems that support healthy ageing, focusing on prevention, care integration, long-term care transformation and enabling environments.

“Our new strategy takes a multi-pronged approach – including data analysis, stakeholder engagement and action prioritization – to address challenges like multimorbidity,” said Dr Yongjie Yon, Technical Officer for Ageing and Health at WHO/Europe. “We’re grateful for the engagement of networks like EUPHA as we shape an agenda that is both practical and transformative.”