General Practitioner Linnea Aitokari from the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa and researcher at Tampere University participated as an expert in a panel discussion held at the European Parliament on 3 June 2026: “Liver Health in the EU Public Health Agenda: Acting Earlier to Prevent Cardio Renal Hepatic Metabolic Diseases: the case of MASLD.” The event was hosted by Members of the European Parliament Nikos Papandreou and Michail Hadjipantela.
The aim of the event was to position metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) as a key component of non-communicable disease prevention in Europe. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently included fatty liver disease in the global non-communicable disease agenda, highlighting the need to strengthen prevention and to intervene earlier in the course of the disease.
In her contribution, Aitokari described everyday realities in primary care across Europe. She emphasized that while primary care systems vary significantly between countries, many share common challenges such as limited resources and constrained consultation time. These factors place clear limits on the implementation of new tasks and clinical guidelines. Aitokari pointed out that new guidelines cannot be introduced without considering the time required, and that priorities must be set based on effectiveness and patient benefit. Adding new responsibilities inevitably means that something else will receive less attention, making prioritization essential.
Aitokari highlighted that primary care physicians should be more strongly involved in the development of clinical guidelines. She also underscored the need to better integrate existing recommendations: prevention, screening, and management of obesity, metabolic syndrome, MASLD, and other cardiometabolic conditions could be addressed as a single comprehensive package in primary care. The current fragmentation of guidelines increases the burden on both clinicians and patients. Primary care perspectives and time constraints should be systematically taken into account when developing recommendations.
She further emphasized that increasing primary care resources alone is not sufficient. Given the high prevalence of MASLD, stronger population-level prevention measures are needed, including political actions that promote physical activity and healthy nutrition. At the same time, reducing socioeconomic health inequalities is crucial to ensure that preventive measures benefit the entire population.
“The greatest impact can be achieved by strengthening prevention at the population level, rather than focusing solely on improving the diagnosis and treatment of MASLD within healthcare services,” Aitokari notes.
The shared message of the event was clear: MASLD should be understood as part of a broader spectrum of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Early identification is key, and care should be integrated and patient-centered. At the same time, challenges were recognized, including barriers to accessing care, fragmented care pathways, systemic fragmentation, and limited healthcare resources. Strengthening population-level prevention was seen as particularly critical.