Three JACARDI pilots showcased at the 45th French Hypertension Days
At the 45th French Hypertension Days in Marseille in December 2025, the French Public Health Agency (Santé publique France) hosted a special session to showcase three innovative JACARDI pilot projects addressing hypertension.
This annual congress, organized by the French Society of Hypertension, brings together more than 500 healthcare professionals from French-speaking countries to share advances in hypertension management.
Session Highlights
The session opened with Dr. Clémence Grave, who presented key French epidemiological insights:
- Hypertension affects over 17 million French adults
- It accounts for nearly 9% of all deaths, yet 1 in 2 adults with hypertension remain unaware of their condition.
To bridge the gap between these alarming statistics and clinical practice, Dr. Grégory Lailler introduced the three main interventions within JACARDI, implemented in the framework of hypertension prevention and health promotion:
- Tension’Elles: A targeted intervention in maternity clinics to raise awareness among women who experienced hypertensive disorders during pregnancy about their future cardiovascular risk, while supporting healthier lifestyle changes. This intervention pilot introduces an innovative care pathway that improves follow-up for women and enhances coordination between hospitals and community care. By identifying risks early, it ensures a seamless transition for women, connecting them with community-health professionals to manage their long-term cardiovascular health and boost the health literacy in these populations.
- TAC (Tension Artérielle – les Chiffres): A public communication campaign to increase awareness of blood pressure numbers and hypertension thresholds, piloted in four high-prevalence French areas.
- TA Tension: A pharmacy-based screening program to identify undiagnosed or uncontrolled hypertension, with loaned self-measurement devices to confirm diagnoses. Leveraging the strategic role of pharmacists as accessible, frontline healthcare providers, this program decentralizes screening. It transforms local pharmacies into key diagnostic hubs, providing patients with low-threshold access to professional medical devices and expert guidance right in their neighborhoods.
Dr. Olivier Obrecht concluded by outlining the National Health Insurance’s nationwide strategies to combat hypertension:
- free self-measurement devices for all newly practicing general practitioners, ensuring better access to diagnostic tools;
- a nationwide awareness campaign to improve hypertension screening rates;
- a newsletter reaching nearly 30 million insured individuals, promoting prevention and early detection;
- an action plan against therapeutic inertia, assessing the effectiveness of antihypertensive treatments after prescription to optimize patient care.
Impact and Outcomes
The session generated strong interest from all healthcare professionals, especially regarding the implementation of new strategies at a national level to tackle the burden of hypertension. It fostered the following:
- Collaboration: a platform for professionals to exchange ideas and refine interventions with national and local stakeholders.
- Network expansion: opportunities to engage with new partners in the JACARDI project and align efforts across France.
The session offered a pivotal moment to unify stakeholders and strengthen collective action against hypertension.
Contributors:
In addition to the main author listed above, this article was prepared with contributions from Santé publique France:
Grégory Lailler, Clémence Grave, Diane Gozlan, Mounia El Yamani, Salima Afiri, Morgane Merat, Andrea Guajardo Villar
JACARDI featured on Italian national TV: free health screenings raise awareness on diabetes and cardiovascular risks
JACARDI was recently featured on RAI, Italy’s national public broadcaster, highlighting a free public screening campaign aimed at the early detection of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This broadcast was filmed during a high-profile event in Reggio Calabria tied to the arrival of the Italian Navy’s historic ship Amerigo Vespucci, and it brought national attention to a simple yet powerful tool for screening and prevention: online self-assessment accessible through a QR code.
The JACARDI project, in collaboration with the ASP (Azienda Sanitaria Provinciale, Local Health Authority) of Reggio Calabria, was able to engage with citizens by making them scan a QR code with their smartphone and receive information about preventive health measures. People answered simple questions and received useful lifestyle tips, and those showing health concerns were flagged for follow-up, providing an immediate and accessible method for early diagnosis.
During the broadcast, several key figures were interviewed, including Dr. Lucia Di Furia, Director General of ASP Reggio Calabria, who suggested that prevention begins with daily awareness. Along with Dr. Ernesto Giordano, an endocrinologist and project manager on childhood obesity prevention, Di Furia highlighted how important it is to educate children on food habits to prevent future health issues.
This initiative exemplifies how JACARDI, as part of a broader EU Joint Action, is transforming prevention into practical action. By combining digital innovation with community outreach, the project is not only improving health literacy but also enabling early detection of conditions that often go unnoticed until it’s too late. As one of the 142 pilots under JACARDI, the ASP Reggio Calabria screening demonstrates how EU joint actions can deliver real, measurable benefits to people’s lives, fostering a culture of prevention and improved care that crosses borders and builds healthier futures for all.
The pilot in Calabria is one of 18 pilots within JACARDI’s Work Package 8, which focuses on screening and identifying individuals at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. These conditions can often be prevented or delayed through healthy lifestyle changes and better risk factor management. The pilots collect standardized data on key risk factors across European countries to support more targeted, evidence-based prevention strategies.
For the news broadcast in Italian, click here, and to watch the pilot’s promotional video, click here.