Brussels, 05/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Healthcare professions have presented a roadmap to address the issue of chronic pain, suffered by many European citizens. They met at the European Parliament on 3-4 May for the second symposium on “the societal impact of pain”. “As the demographic profile of Europe changes and as the population becomes older, pain will become an increasingly important issue in the future”, said European Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli. More than 25% of citizens suffer regularly from back and joint pains, headaches and fibromyalgia, an illness that has only recently been recognised. The aim of the symposium, which was endorsed by 65 national and international organisations, was to raise awareness of the need for improved pain care in Europe. It resulted in a roadmap which calls on governments and European institutions to work on seven “concrete dimensions of pain”: 1) acknowledgement of pain as an important factor limiting the quality of life; 2) availability of information and access to pain diagnosis and management; 3) increased awareness of the medical, financial and social impact of pain and its management; 4) increased awareness of the importance of prevention, diagnosis and management of pain; 5) enforcement of pain research; 6) establishment of an EU platform for the exchange, comparison and benchmarking of best practice; 7) trend monitoring in pain management by using the EU platform. (I.L./transl.rt)