Thanks to this agreement, a mobile vascular disease assessment service will be promoted. Also, companies will be able to collaborate and help fund research into the fight against vascular diseases.
Sant Pau welcomed the signing of the collaboration agreement between the association Activa’tt per la Salut, linked to the Research Institute of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, and Foment. The aim of the agreement is to promote knowledge and prevention of diseases such as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, chronic venous insufficiency and aortic aneurysms, among others, as well as fundraising for research.
These diseases are the leading cause of death in developed countries. The latest data show that only in Europe there are around 1.5 million thrombosis every year (causing more than 543 thousand deaths) with an estimated direct expenditure of three billion euros a year. Therefore, as stated in the agreement, this pathology is a public health problem that requires a large amount of economic resources.
Thanks to this agreement, a mobile vascular disease assessment service will be promoted, made up of professionals from the Angiology, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Service of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, which will visit companies to diagnose and assess the thrombotic risk of their workers and relatives. At the same time, companies will be able to collaborate and help fund research into the fight against vascular diseases carried out at the Research Institute of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.
Dr. José Manuel Soria, president of Activa’tt per la Salut and director of Genomics of Complex Diseases at the Sant Pau Research Institute, emphasized that “the countries with the most developed research are the ones with the greatest interaction between industry and research institutes. Research is the most efficient investment a society can make”. Dr. Soria added that “this alliance between business and research must allow us to move forward from reactive to predictive medicine. This is our commitment. Every minute a person dies in Europe from thrombosis, research is the best prevention for this scourge.”
For his part, the President of Public Works, Josep Sánchez Llibre, remarked that “this agreement shows how companies together with civil society organizations can be a key active part in the prevention and management of these diseases”. He also encouraged companies to “implement healthy habits programs, to promote and develop knowledge of vascular diseases and to carry out actions for early detection of the disease in the workplace, such as through the mobile vascular disease assessment service”.
The signing ceremony, which took place at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, was also attended by the the manager of the hospital, Dr. Gemma Cray winckel, and the director of the Sant Pau Research Institute, Dr. Jordi Surrallés.
