During the Economic Forum in Karpacz, patient organisations and experts called for strategic measures to strengthen the prevention of infectious respiratory diseases, including pneumonia. Among the recommendations of the Carpathian Declaration for Health are life-cycle vaccination, stronger protection for those at risk of severe disease and harnessing the potential of all health professions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us how dangerous infectious respiratory diseases are for people and health systems. Lung diseases are among the most common causes of death and costly hospital admissions. The health problem is therefore a serious one, and will further increase with an ageing population and possible further epidemics. At the same time, many of these diseases can be mitigated or eliminated at relatively low cost by means of immunization (e.g. against influenza, pneumococcus, whooping cough, COVID-19). Strategic action to combat preventable infectious respiratory diseases was called for at the Economic Forum in Karpacz by patient organisations and experts. During the event, the Carpathian Declaration for Health, which was developed by the organisations and contains six main recommendations, was presented.The authors of the Declaration are convinced that a high priority should be given to prevention, which, in addition to vaccination, includes, among other things, early detection of diseases and enables rapid initiation of treatment (the so-called fast-track patient pathway). Vaccination programmes - which currently focus on children - should be extended to all stages of life. Special protection should be extended to people in at-risk groups, including chronic patients and seniors. Communication and education, which are effective tools in the fight against misinformation, also play a key role in building a safe health care system. The signatories of the Declaration are aware of the limited healthcare resources and therefore call for the urgent extension of pharmacists' capacity to provide vaccinations against respiratory diseases.The Declaration was signed by patient organisations grouped in the Alliance for the Control of Respiratory Infectious Diseases "Poland Healthy Breathing": Institute for Patient Rights and Health Education, Polish Diabetes Association, Federation of Amazon Associations, Nationwide Association of Patients with Heart and Vascular Diseases EcoSerce, Polish Federation of Associations of Patients with Asthma and Allergic Diseases and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases.
The full text of the Carpathian Declaration for Health is available here
The recommendations contained in the Declaration will be the subject of discussion and further work with the medical community and experts in the coming months.