Austria promotes pharmacies as key sites for early cardiovascular and diabetes screening during EU Screening Week

Austria is harnessing its pharmacy network to boost early detection of heart disease and diabetes, aligning with EU efforts to increase prevention awareness amid a global focus on cardiovascular health.

Pharmacies across Austria are being promoted as an accessible first stop for checks on blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar as the first EU Screening Week gets under way alongside World Heart Day.

The campaign, which runs from 28 September to 4 October, is intended to draw attention to prevention, screening and early detection, with a particular emphasis on cardiovascular and cardiometabolic risk. According to the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists, the aim is to make checks easier to reach for people who might otherwise delay them, especially when warning signs such as high blood pressure or raised blood sugar can go unnoticed for years.

Gerhard Kobinger, vice-president of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists, said pharmacies are often the nearest and least complicated place for people to seek health advice. He argued that the week is a useful prompt for people to check their key values and take action sooner rather than later. In many Austrian pharmacies, customers can already obtain services such as blood pressure measurements, blood sugar and longer-term glucose tests, cholesterol and lipid profiles, and some other basic health checks, with results often available within minutes and discussed on site with pharmacy staff.

The campaign message is being reinforced by examples from regional prevention programmes. In Carinthia, a diabetes prevention initiative in pharmacies screened almost 5,200 people and identified 1,923 cases of pre-diabetes and 178 previously undiagnosed cases of diabetes, which were referred on for medical diagnosis and treatment. The chamber says similar schemes in Vienna, Styria and Salzburg suggest that many people are willing to use community pharmacies for low-threshold health checks when they are close to home.

The European Public Health Alliance is also marking the inaugural EU Screening Week with online resources and campaigning focused on screening, prevention and follow-up care, while other European industry and advocacy groups are highlighting the week’s wider message on early diagnosis across conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes. MedTech Europe says the initiative is intended to encourage health organisations, patient groups and local communities to promote awareness activities and strengthen earlier intervention. The Austrian chamber, meanwhile, is using the campaign to argue that prevention should start before symptoms appear, not after illness has already taken hold.