In policy news this month, the Commission publishes its 2013 Work Programme, EMA releases its opinion on medical packaging wording, updates on EU structural funding are provided at the European Health Forum Gastein and more.    European Commission Work Programme for 2013 published On the 23rd of October, the European Commission published its Work Programme for 2013. The programme outlines how the Commission will work on a day-to-day basis to

EFA has been busy this month writing for the new EPF blog, attending the last meeting of the HealthVent project, travelling to the Gastein Health Policy Forum, participating in two meetings on indoor air quality, attending a meeting on severe asthma and more.  EFA blog on EPF website EFA has written an entry for the European Patients’ Forum’s (EPF) new blog, a recently developed forum that provides patient organisation perspective on specific

The EU health Commissioner resigns causing fears to rise that the upcoming Tobacco Products’ Directive will be further delayed. John Dalli resigns as Health Commissioner as fears rise that progress on the Tobacco Products’ Directive will halt News broke on the 16th of October that John Dalli had resigned as EU Health Commissioner. This followed allegations made by a Swedish tobacco company that a Maltese acquaintance of the former Commissioner

In treatment news this month, new guidelines are published to help healthcare professionals in the field of smoking cessation, the European Patients’ Forum releases reports on patient involvement in HTA, 10 years of the ARIA project (allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma) is marked with an article on its achievements, a new Directory of Health Apps is published and EFA reports from a conference on the development of paediatric medicines. 

After extensive presentations of the Finnish Allergy Programme, EFA is now taking delegations from 3 member countries to Finland 8th-9th November to first hand educational event on how the programme was initiated and how it is run in view of initiating similar programmes in their countries. This is part of the EFA Allergy Project and the successful launch event for the EFA Book on Respiratory Allergies: Raise Awareness, Relieve the Burden to promote

The adoption of the new EU regulation on the provision of food information to consumers by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU was welcomed by EFA as a positive step to enhance the protection of the health of people with allergies. Clear and understandable food information helps consumers make better-informed choices and safe use of food, important for people with food allergy or intolerance or with special dietary requirements because

Greetings from the EFA Board who held their meeting on the 19th of September in Brussels. Please save the date and venue of our next AGM and network meeting in your diary: the 31st of May to the 1st of June 2013 in Rome, Italy, invited by Associazione Italiana Pazienti BPCO. This month the Board discussed a draft paper on strategic priorities for 2013 and reviewed the excellent progress of our work plan this year. EFA is organising an alignment meeting

EFA launched a new video earlier this month in which Austrian MEP Karin Kadenbach speaks about how EFA’s EU work can contribute to concrete change for allergy patients across Europe. At the annual Congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) in Vienna this year, EFA’s Symposium was proud to display a new video of Karin Kadenbach, Austrian Member of the European Parliament, who spoke to EFA on the subject of EU healthcare policy and why

This month EFA reports on its food allergen labelling event at the European Parliament and has news about a European project soon to issue guidelines on indoor air quality in schools across Europe. EFA holds “Contains/May Contain” Food Allergen Labelling Event Policy-makers and other stakeholders joined EFA at the European Parliament on Wednesday 19th of September to discuss food allergen labelling in EU policy and everyday practice. Hosted

EFA has been busy racing around over the last few weeks (literally!). We participated in the the ELF Lung Run, hosted a stand at the ERS World Village in Vienna, took part in the EMA Patient and Consumer working party, attended a ‘patient think-tank’, received training in health technology and participated in a meeting on paediatric medicines. Wrap-up of EFA at the ERS Congress 2012 in Vienna – EFA in World Spirometry Day (WSD) 2012 Lung Run

In policy news this month we report on the air quality situation in Europe and how two new EU proposals are aiming to improve the safety of medical devices produced here. Launch of the 2012 EEA report on the air quality situation in Europe – the way forward to the 2013 EU Year of Air On the 24th of September, the European Environment Agency (EEA) launched their 2012 report on the air quality situation in Europe with a presentation and discussion

In care related news this month, new guidelines on atopic eczema have been published and a big capacity building project for patients on clinical trials has been launched. New guidelines on Atopic Eczema published The European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) has published new guidelines on managing Atopic Eczema (AE). EADV is an organisation that aims to advance research, education, training and the standards of clinical care in the