J. Women Health Care and Issues Copy rights@ Mariano Votta, Auctores Publishing LLC – Volume 5(3)-111 www.auctoresonline.org ISSN: 2642-9756 Page 1 of 9 Supporting Non-Communicable Disease Patients in Time of The Covid-19 Pandemic: From Motivating Them to Qualifying the Role of Their Caregivers Mariano Votta 1* , Ana Aviles 2 , Rossana Di Renzo 3 , Marilena Vimercati 3 1 Junior Project Manager, Active Citizenship Network, c/o Cittadinanzattiva APS, Via Cereate, 6 - 00183 Rome, Italy. 2 Community & Fellowship Assistant, Active Citizenship Network, c/o Cittadinanzattiva APS, Via Cereate, 6 - 00183 Rome, Italy. 3 Expert in narrative medicine, Responsible for Cittadinanzattiva-Emilia Romagna of the CRAMCReD - Regional Coordination of Chronic, Rare and Disability Disease Associations. Corresponding Author: Mariano Votta, Unior Project Manager, Active Citizenship Network, c/o Cittadinanzattiva APS, Via Cereate, 6 - 00183 Rome, Italy. Received date: February 23, 2022; Accepted date: March 18, 2022; Published date: March 30, 2022 Citation: Mariano Votta, Ana Aviles, Rossana Di Renzo, Marilena Vimercati. (2022). Supporting Non-Communicable Disease Patients in Time of The Covid-19 Pandemic: From Motivating Them to Qualifying the Role of Their Caregivers. J. Women Health Care and Issues. 5(3); DOI:10.31579/2642-9756/111 Copyright: © 2022 Mariano Votta, This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Evidence collected globally during the pandemic show that Covid-19 has had a significant impact on patients suffering from non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Indeed, oncological and chronic patients have been left almost alone for several months, especially during the first wave of the pandemic. At the European level, the hope is that the measures adopted thanks to the Next Generation EU Fund [1] can have, in the shortest period possible, a significant impact towards more resilient healthcare systems in each Member State, in which the issue of health acts as a key element within their National Resilience and Recovery Plans (NRRPs). In addition to this, it is extremely essential to act on two sides: to motivate patients to not neglect their treatment path, and to support as much as possible the ones who informally help them in the shadow. In fact, behind every sick person there is often a caregiver, for many of whom every day the work of care takes up almost all of their daily time, with considerable expenditure of physical and mental energy. What is the situation of caregivers across Europe? While challenges faced by patients are a frequently discussed topic, not much is known about the issues caregivers face daily. To shed light on the latter in Italy has been a civic survey carried out along 2020 by the Italian NGO Cittadinanzattiva [2], engaged also at the European level in order to motivate patients and, as an Ambassador of the EU Pillar of Social Rights [3], committed with EU institutions to implement the 20 principles of the Pillar for the benefit of both patients and their caregivers. Keywords: caregivers; non-communicable diseases (ncds); chronic patients; european union; patients’ rights; civic participation; patients’ advocacy groups (pags) Introduction The population of elderly people aged 65 years or more will increase from 87.5 million in 2010 to 152.6 million in 2060 in the European Union. Indeed, in the EU countries, on average 3–4% of the people aged over 65 are provided with long-term institutional care [4]. This demographic trend shows a dynamic increase in demand for services of long-term care, mainly concerning a growth in the number of the elderly requiring care in their homes. In this sense, community care has become a prominent EU priority in the last few years, as also confirmed by the Horizon 2020 “Call on better health and care, economic growth and sustainable health systems” [5], and the shift towards home-based care is seen as a practical measure to contain the costs of services while supporting widespread preferences among older people. All of this puts more and more pressure on informal carers who in most European countries already provide a large part of long-term care for dependent people with disabilities, chronic or degenerative and rare diseases. In fact, at different stages of the disease, caregivers perform different tasks: they collaborate in the assistance during hospitalization, discuss with the doctors, deal with the various bureaucratic procedures, and take care of the family. They interact with the general practitioner and the social-health network and collaborate in daily nutrition, they help with personal hygiene, mobility and facilitate family and social relationships. The consequences of Open Access Review Article Journal of Women Health Care and Issues Mariano Votta* AUCTORES Globalize your Research