EFA attends public hearings on the EU Tobacco Products Directive The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a hearing in Brussels on the 19 February in order to allow stakeholders of the new Tobacco Products Directive to inform themselves on positions on the proposal. EFA, represented by Susanna Palkonen, was surprised that around two-thirds of those present represented the tobacco industry. However, the health NGOs presented a strong

EFA Allergy Awareness Project  Over the past month EFA has circulated letters to its partner organisations inviting them to ask their members to sign EFA’s Call to Action on respiratory allergies in Europe. EFA sincerely thanks its partners for their assistance as we have now collected just over 1,400 signatures since the website was launched a year ago. Among the signatories there are five Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and over half

Policy Round-Up The results of the HealthVent project were presented at the European Parliament (see article above) and the European Commission was requested to issue a Green Paper on indoor air quality in conjunction with the EU Year of Air and the revision of the EU air legislation.  EFA is preparing a briefing on the Commission’s proposal for the Seventh Environmental Action Programme (7 EAP), “Living well, within the limits of our planet”.

HealthVent event at the European Parliament – Health-based ventilation guidelines for Europe On 20 February 2013 EFA organised an event in the European Parliament at which the HealthVent project consortium presented the HealthVent guidelines (see our January article). The event was hosted by MEP Catherine Stihler and attracted more than 50 participants who learnt about the project’s results and exchanged ideas in view of the final report of the

EFA President Breda Flood will speak at an Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) entitled ‘Applying open innovation to bring personalised medicine to new disease areas’. The event will take place in Dublin at the Crowne Plaza Dublin-Northwood Hotel on the afternoon of the 20th of March. The workshop is organised within the framework of a wider event on innovation and patient access to personalised medicine organised by the European Alliance for

Norwegian Asthma and Allergy Association tells of Norwegian hopes for a national allergy and asthma programme  EFA’s Norwegian member, the Norwegian Asthma and Allergy Association, has been keeping us up to up to date on plans in Norway to adopt a 10 year national asthma and allergy programme for the period 2014 – 2023. So far the Association has reported excellent collaboration between it and the Norwegian Health Authorities (Directorate of

Starting in 2011, EFA began to integrate an optional event, called the Networking Day, following the AGM for EFA members presenting the opportunity for members to collaborate and get to know each other better. In 2013 the Networking Day will take place on 1 June, in Rome, Italy, one day after the AGM Rome 2013.  The Networking Day 2013 aims at providing the basis for sharing best practices, projects and ideas among members, planning future collaboration

Each year the EFA organizes an AGM in a city corresponding to an EFA member organisation who volunteers to assist in hosting the event by making recommendations for a venue and other activities. The next AGM in 2013 will be co-hosted with the Associazione Italiana Pazienti BPCO AIP-BPCO in Rome, Italy and will take place on the 31 May 2013. All EFA members are invited to participate, as their votes make key decisions during the AGM, such as the

MEP Catherine Stihler is presenting the results of the HealthVent project during  an event in the European Parliament in Brussels. The project, which began in 2010, has developed health-based ventilation guidelines to help protect people in places like schools, nurseries, offices and homes against the health problems caused by poor indoor air quality (IAQ), and to encourage energy to be used efficiently. EFA was a partner in this project and

PROactive is a European project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (IMI-JU) under the auspices of the European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). Remaining physically active is crucial for patients to maintain health and health related quality of life.  Decreased physical activity is a marker of a deteriorating health condition that is important and noticeable

EFA member Prévention des allergies is due to speak at a conference in October 2013 in Angers, France, on the subject of the difficulties encountered by children and adolescents with food allergies. The conference will aim to develop ideas for action to help this group, and will be attended by doctors and specialists from all over France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Prévention des allergies would like to hear from children and young adults on this

U-BIOPRED holds AGM On the 21st and 22nd of January 2013, the fourth annual general meeting of the U-BIOPRED project took place in Barcelona. U-BIOPRED (Unbiased BIOmarkers in PREDiction of respiratory disease outcomes) is a research project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a public-private-partnership between the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, FP 7, and the European