Abstract
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for over 80% of Belgium's disease burden and represent a major challenge for health systems, especially during armed conflicts when care continuity is severely disrupted. Armed conflicts disrupt the continuity of chronic disease care, revealing critical vulnerabilities (Tesfaye et al., 2023). Despite its advanced healthcare systems, Europe remains not well-equipped for thec combined challenges of NCDs and war conflict (NCD Alliance, 2024). The management of NCDs depends on stable care pathways, continuous medication access, clinical monitoring, and patient education services that are significantly disrupted during armed conflicts. Recent global conflicts have demonstrated that such disruptions disproportionately affect individuals with chronic illnesses, highlighting the urgent need to build health system resilience for continuity of care in crisis contexts (Kluge et al., 2022; Abbara et al., 2020; Abu-El-Noor et al., 2023).
Nurses, comprising more than half of Europe's healthcare workforce, are often the primary providers of both acute and chronic care in crisis settings. However, their preparedness to manage NCDs in conflict scenarios remains critically underexplored in Belgium and Europe
Objectives: 1) To assess the readiness of nurses in Belgium and the European Union (EU) to deliver NCD care during armed conflicts. 2) To identify gaps in education, policy, and institutional support, and 3) to draw lessons from recent conflict zones to develop evidence-based recommendations.
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