Health ministers from the European Union (EU) gathered in Vienna on Wednesday for a two-day informal meeting which centered on diabetes prevention and women's health.

The health ministers from 25 EU members reached consensus at the meeting that it was necessary for the EU countries to formulate a common project on diabetes prevention.

"Prevention holds the key to containment of diabetes: we need to emphasize and promote a healthy lifestyle throughout the EU and create a living environment that enables people to make healthy choices," said a statement issued on Wednesday.

At least 170 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, including 22.5 million in Europe, according to Austrian Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

On women's health, the ministers specified four killers of women's health: cardiovascular diseases, gender-specific consequences of smoking/lung cancer, osteoporosis and endometriosis.

The health ministers praised an Austrian initiative for significant contribution to the achievement of gender-based medicine.

Some EU countries also proposed that the EU should build a standby medicine reserve to prevent and control worldwide epidemics.

"Committee will take this advice into consideration," said European Commissioner for Health Markos Kyprianou.

Chinese Health Minister Gao Qiang and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt were also invited to attend the meeting.

Source: Xinhua