The first-ever EU Screening Week will take place from 28 September to 4 October 2026, creating a Europe-wide moment for prevention, screening and early detection.
The initiative follows FH Awareness Day on 24 September and coincides with World Heart Day on 29 September, offering our community a timely opportunity to connect awareness of inherited cardiovascular risk with wider European action.
FH Europe Foundation encourages its entire Network and the wider cardiovascular health community across the European Union to get involved.
Framed as a cardiometabolic prevention and screening initiative, EU Screening Week is linked to the EU Safe Hearts Plan and the Know Your Numbers campaign.
Its message is simple but powerful: people should know the health indicators that matter to them, including, but not limited to, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar and be empowered to take preventive action as early as possible.
For the inherited lipid disorders community, this is also an important opportunity to demonstrate that cardiovascular prevention must begin early and take inherited risk into account. Conditions such as familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and familial chylomicronaemia syndrome (FCS) are genetically determined and remain severely underdiagnosed. High triglycerides can also represent an important and frequently overlooked cardiovascular or metabolic risk.
You can read more about the background, policy context and importance of EU Screening Week in our initial announcement published on 14 July.
Participation is deliberately flexible. Patient organisations, healthcare professionals, advocates, community groups and other partners can contribute by:
The European Commission’s registration platform is currently limited to activities located in the 27 EU Member States. We nevertheless encourage members and partners outside the European Union to consider how they might support or amplify the campaign. Online activities may also reach people across national borders, although the eligibility and registration arrangements for online-only events are not yet fully clear. FHEF is seeking further clarification from the European Commission and will update the community as soon as this is confirmed.
Registered activities will be showcased on a dedicated EU Screening Week webpage, helping people find screening and awareness initiatives in their area.
EU Screening Week begins only four days after FH Awareness Day on 24 September. This creates a natural bridge between raising awareness of FH and taking practical action to improve cardiovascular health.
Whether you organise cholesterol testing, promote an existing paediatric or family-based screening programme, hold an educational webinar, engage local policymakers or share trusted information through social media, your contribution matters.
By taking part, our community can help ensure that inherited lipid disorders, including FH, homozygous FH, elevated Lp(a) and FCS are visible within Europe’s prevention and early-detection agenda.
It is also an opportunity to reinforce an essential message: screening is not only about carrying out a test. It must be connected to clear pathways for diagnosis, family screening, treatment, support and long-term follow-up.
Please register your activity with the European Commission by 20 September 2026.
We also invite members of the FHEF Network, Patient Ambassadors, healthcare professionals, scientific partners and supporters to share their plans with FH Europe Foundation. This will help us amplify your work and demonstrate the collective contribution of our community across Europe.
Together, we can put prevention and early detection at the heart of cardiovascular health and help more people know their numbers before a cardiovascular event occurs.
The European Commission’s registration form asks organisations to provide:
The form must be completed in English, but the published event information will be automatically translated into all 24 official EU languages. The name, email address and telephone number of the responsible contact person are collected for coordination and communication purposes and will not be displayed publicly.
The form allows organisers to enter their activity’s opening and closing dates and does not currently appear to restrict those dates to the official EU Screening Week period of 28 September–4 October. This suggests that relevant activities taking place shortly before or after the official week may also be eligible for registration.
FHEF is seeking confirmation of this point and is encouraging the European Commission to recognise relevant prevention, awareness and screening activities organised outside the official dates, including activities connected with FH Awareness Day on 24 September. We will update our community as soon as further guidance is available.
August was a month of action, collaboration, and growing momentum across the FH Europe Foundation network as preparations intensified for FH Awareness Day, EU Screening Week, and World Heart Day. From community-led awareness campaigns and screening initiatives to new research findings, advocacy efforts, and international partnerships, the global FH community continues to drive earlier detection, prevention, and improved care for inherited lipid disorders.
Catch up on the key highlights from the August 2026 edition of Heart Beat:
FH Europe Foundation convened leading scientific and advocacy organisations working in inherited lipid disorders and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) to welcome the first-ever EU Screening Week, taking place from 28 September to 4 October 2026, and offer their collective support for its implementation across EU Member States.
At FHEF’s initiative, a joint letter was sent to the Cabinet of European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi on July 17th, 2026. The letter brings together FHEF, the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS), the Lp(a) International Task Force and the EAS FH Studies Collaboration, reaffirming their shared commitment to supporting EU Screening Week and the wider implementation of the EU Safe Hearts Plan.
Connecting European policy with practical action
The letter reflects the importance of bringing patient, scientific, clinical and policy communities together around a common European framework for cardiovascular prevention, screening and early detection.
The document highlights the strong alignment between EU Screening Week and our organisations’ longstanding work. This includes the first EU Public Health Best Practice on paediatric screening for familial hypercholesterolaemia, accepted by the European Commission in 2020, as well as the EU-funded PERFECTO and FH-EARLY projects. It also builds on the recognition of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), elevated lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), and inherited lipid disorders in general, within the EU Safe Hearts Plan.
EU Screening Week provides an important opportunity to connect several major moments for cardiovascular health: FH Awareness Day on 24 September, World Heart Day on 29 September, and wider European efforts to promote awareness and detection of cholesterol, elevated Lp(a), high triglycerides and other cardiovascular risk factors.
Mobilising a broad European community
By convening this collaboration, FHEF has helped bring together complementary patient, scientific, clinical, policy and implementation expertise:
Together, the partners have offered to mobilise national societies, clinicians, researchers, lipid clinics, patient organisations and patient ambassadors. Their proposed contribution includes supporting local screening activities, evidence-based communications, registry expertise, and policy and implementation efforts across EU Member States.
The letter also requests a meeting with Commissioner Várhelyi to discuss how this combined expertise and reach can contribute most effectively to EU Screening Week and help translate the Safe Hearts Plan into concrete benefits for individuals, families, communities and governments across Europe.
Read the joint letter in full here
All Partners look forward to working with the European Commission to make EU Screening Week a meaningful catalyst for earlier detection, more effective prevention and better cardiovascular health for all. At the time of publication, the partners are awaiting a response from the Commissioner’s Cabinet.
As FH Awareness Day approaches, the FH Europe Foundation community is connecting local action with a powerful policy moment for early detection and prevention.
Every minute, somewhere in the world, a child is born with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). Each birth is another opportunity for early detection and lifelong prevention, but only if health systems, professionals, families and communities know to look for FH.
That sense of urgency and possibility was at the heart of two FHEF community calls held in August. Convened to prepare for FH Awareness Day on 24 September, the calls became a lively global exchange of practical ideas, national progress, policy intelligence and mutual support.
Participants joined from across Europe and countries including China, Iraq and Thailand, while updates extended further into Africa and Asia. The message was clear: FH Awareness Day is not only a moment to explain what FH is. It is an opportunity to help people understand their risk, know what to do next and turn awareness into action.
This year’s campaign arrives against an important policy background in Europe. The EU Safe Hearts Plan recognises FH and inherited lipid disorders within Europe’s cardiovascular prevention agenda and places renewed emphasis on early detection.
The European Commission’s work on recommendations for cardiovascular health checks offers a further opportunity to ensure that cholesterol, family history and inherited risk are systematically considered.
The timing matters. FH causes elevated LDL cholesterol from birth. Identifying it only in midlife means losing years during which premature cardiovascular disease could have been prevented. The community’s call is therefore not simply for more screening, but for screening early enough to change lives.
The first-ever EU Screening Week, beginning on 28 September, adds a visible Europe-wide platform for prevention. Testing programmes, educational events, webinars, community outreach and communication campaigns can all contribute. Taking place shortly after FH Awareness Day and alongside World Heart Day, it creates a rare opportunity to connect inherited risk with the broader cardiovascular health agenda.
Progress in France towards systematic FH screening at age six, Austria’s new national lipid consensus, and paediatric screening developments in Luxembourg and Latvia demonstrate how sustained advocacy can translate into policy attention, stronger guidance and practical screening pathways.
One of the most valuable insights from the calls came from members reporting on a previous shared action: writing to national ministries of health about cardiovascular health checks and the inclusion of paediatric FH screening.
Responses have arrived from Ireland, Austria and the Netherlands, helping to reveal where persistent objections remain and which questions must still be addressed to convince policymakers.
A negative or disappointing response is not the end of advocacy. It confirms that the message has reached the decision-maker, exposes the arguments that must be challenged and provides a basis for coordinated follow-up.
By comparing responses across countries, members can identify common barriers, strengthen the evidence behind their asks and make the next approach harder to dismiss. A campaign letter therefore becomes more than a single communication: it opens an accountable policy conversation.
The calls revealed a remarkable range of activities already taking shape. Although countries are working with different health systems, resources and levels of public awareness, each is finding a practical way to advance the same goal.
The community also highlighted the FH Summit in Poland, Croatia’s RUN4FH and an in-person FH Connect event in Singapore. Work is underway to support the development of a patient organisation in South Africa.
These initiatives demonstrate that the movement is not defined by one format or geography. A screening day, policy workshop, scientific meeting, run, video, translation or patient story can all contribute to a shared effort.
Participants did more than report activities. They helped shape how the campaign should communicate.
Patient advocates and experts discussed how to balance hopeful messages with more emotive images showing the consequences of late diagnosis or lack of access. The discussion recognised that one approach will not work for every audience. Children and families may benefit from messages centred on the possibility of a long, healthy future, while adults may sometimes need a more direct reminder that untreated FH can lead to a heart attack at a young age.
This is why the campaign toolkit is designed to be adaptable and representative of different ages, backgrounds and communities. Members offered translation support, shared evidence about which visuals engage their audiences and suggested ways to make the materials more locally relevant.
The 2026 campaign is ultimately about empowerment. It will help people understand cholesterol screening, lipid profiles and laboratory results, cardiovascular and inherited risk, family history, FH management and evolving treatment options.
Personal stories will remain central. People living with FH are invited to share their photograph, age at diagnosis and reflections on why timely screening mattered—or what an earlier diagnosis could have changed. These experiences give policy asks a human face and help others recognise themselves and their families in the message.
What made the August calls powerful was not only the number of activities announced. It was the willingness to learn across borders: a policy response in one country becoming evidence for another; a successful visual inspiring a different audience; clinicians stepping forward where no patient organisation yet exists; and experienced advocates offering their reach to emerging communities.
FH Europe Foundation’s role is to help connect these efforts, make local work more visible and demonstrate to decision-makers that they are not isolated activities but part of a growing global movement.
This FH Awareness Day, our shared task is to make early detection impossible to overlook: know your cholesterol, know your family history, understand your results and act early. When communities connect awareness with evidence, policy and practical action, we do more than mark a date, we help prevent the preventable.