The Global Europe Initiative - GEI
Few years ago the European Society of Geriatric Medicine (EuGMS) took the initiative to reinforce its actions in spreading the educational activities and high professional standards across European continent and in particular in the countries where Geriatric Medicine is still emerging or has yet to obtain well-established professional and scientific independence and recognition.
Indeed, the under-representation of colleagues from European countries with emerging Geriatric Medicine was evident when looking at EuGMS statistics from the period 2015-2018, showing that 50% of participants at our annual congresses came from only 5 European EuGMS member countries out of the 35 countries members of our Society at that time and out of the 53 countries included in the WHO list for the European region. Similar figures were also observed in other activities of the Society, such as the Special Interest Groups, Task & Finish groups, education and research activities, etc.
In addition, similarly to most other European Academic Medical Societies, EuGMS aims to reinforce the relations and collaboration with non-European Mediterranean countries in which an increasing number of physicians try to develop the Geriatric Medicine.
In order to accomplish these ambitious goals, EuGMS created in 2018 the Global Europe Initiative (GEI) group which includes active members of the EuGMS coming from all over Europe mainly from Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Mediterranean countries.
The general mission of the GEI is to undertake specific action for the development of Geriatric Medicine across all European and Mediterranean countries, to generalize high professional standards and educational opportunities for healthcare professionals caring for older people and to offer equal opportunities for quality care by the added value of Geriatric Medicine to every older person independently of their geographical location.
A- Axes of action of the GEI:
To fulfil its missions, the GEI started developing concrete actions within three axes:
- Mapping Geriatric Medicine throughout the European region
Establishing stable connections and collaboration with the countries where geriatric medicine is still emerging will only be possible through reliable and reactive referent persons. Members of the GEI Group are invited to share personal contacts with the Group and to set professional basis for future joint actions. - Facilitate the participation in the annual Congress of the EuGMS
GEI decided to propose scientific and financial opportunities for junior physicians, medical students and other health professionals coming from these countries. In this respect, we have already proposed financial facilities for participating in the EuGMS annual Congresses . - Promote joint actions (seminars, workshops etc.) with local societies and groups of physicians in different countries. Since the creation of the GEI group several joint actions have been developed in many countries targeted by the GEI group.
B- Main activities of the GEI since its creation
1. Inaugural session
- The first GEI meeting took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, in November
2019 with representatives of 10 Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia).
During 2 days the participants focused the debates on the topic of “Geriatric patient in need for chronic care: from community to institution and back”
A scientific publication has been produced with the proceedings of this meeting :
Kotsani M, Ellul J, Bahat G, Bogdanovic N, Burazeri G, Erceg P, Petreska-Zovic B, Prada GI, Smyrnakis E, Veninšek G, Zamboulis C, Martin FC, Petrovic M, Benetos A. Start low, go slow, but look far: the case of geriatric medicine in Balkan countries. Eur Geriatr Med. 2020 Oct;11(5):869-878. doi: 10.1007/s41999-020-00350-x. Epub 2020 Jun 25. PMID: 32588380.
2. GEI meetings in the main program of the annual EuGMS Congresses
Since 2019 the GEI organized specific sessions in the annual EuGMS congresses aiming to compare diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic strategies in different countries especially in countries with emerging geriatrics. The topics of these sessions are summarized below:
2019 Krakow Atrial fibrillation,
2020 e-congress COVID-19,
2021 Athens Nutrition in NHs,
2022 London Orthogeriatrics,
2023 Helsinki Oncogeriatrics.
During these meetings representatives of Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia, Türkiye had the opportunity to discuss their own practices experiences and practices with those of the other countries
Such a session has also been organized this year during the EuGMS 2024 Congress in Valencia on the topic of the “Initial Geriatric Assessment in different clinical settings” with representatives from Croatia, France and Tunisia. Interestingly, the exchanges between countries with developed Geriatric Medicine with those in which GM is still emerging is very useful for both sides.
3. Core curriculum sessions during the annual Congress
Since 2023, the Executive Board asked the GEI to organize one educational session during the annual EuGMS Congress.
2023 (Helsinki) Community based management of older people: where do we stand
2024 (programmed in Valencia): Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Frail Older Adults,"
4. Spring of Geriatrics (Sprin-G): An annual EuGMS pluridisciplinary event in the frame of an educational program developed by the GEI
In order to further develop the spirit of the GEI, we created in 2022 the Spring-G event based on the 4 following concepts:
- THEME: Ageing Trajectories - Healthy aging is a life-long dynamic process. Sprin-G aims to promote applications of strategies and policies in the Society
- FORMAT: Sprin-G complements scientific, social and cultural aspects.
- TIME: Continuity is fundamental to promoting sustainable positive transformations.
- SPACE: Sprin-G embraces the spirit of the EuGMS Global Europe Initiative to contribute to the development of Geriatric Medicine all over Europe. For this reason, the event will be organized in a different country every year
So far 3 SPRIN-G events have been organized:
2022: Rome
2023: Bucharest (co-organisation with the PROGRAMMING COST Action event)
2024: Istanbul
2025: Heraklion (co-organisation with the PROGRAMMING COST Action event)
(see below)
5. Initiation of the PROGRAMMING COST Action.
The GEI initiated the idea for the creation of this Action that was financed by the COST European Organisation
Perspectives
Our main objective is to further develop our group by better structuring its organization, in order to continue the projects undertaken and also to develop new activities such as:
- Continue the actions and perpetuate of the momentum created by the PROGRAMMING COST Action for the promotion of geriatrics in countries where it is still emerging and the development of educational tools and programs for the non-geriatric health professional all over Europe
- Develop methods for the evaluation of the applicability of geriatric medicine-related guidelines in countries with less developed geriatrics.
- Involve and engage stakeholders and policymakers in its activities for the promotion of Geriatric Medicine
In order to coduct these activities, the GEI focuses on the further development of the group by better structuring its organization and by expanding the number of its members and countries represented in it. GEI aims to initiate new projects and to continue and further develop the ongoing activities such as
The GEI is open to all people who realise the need for a global development of geriatrics all over Europe and in the Mediterranean Countries.
To join, please write to secretariat(at)eugms.org
Prof. Athanase Benetos
Chair of the GEI group
Marina Kotsani
Co-chair of the GEI group
