Europe is facing an increasing challenge with age-dependent lifestyle related chronic diseases, also known as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The purpose of the Health Movement is to prevent NCDs from emerging, and increase quality of life for individuals that are already sick. NCDs are not passed from person to person and they are of long duration and generally slow progression. By promoting a healthy living, many of these diseases can be prevented, but there is a need of supportive Environments and access to quality Health care. Based on the individual’s preferences and situation, the Health Movement creates an ecosystem of community actors to help the individual lead a healthy lifestyle, comply to treatment and get personalised care.
The four main types of noncommunicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes. The Health Movement targets individuals with risk of developing life style related disease, with first focus on diabetes type 2, where both the number of cases and the prevalence of the disease have been steadily increasing over the past few decades.