Welcome back to the EFA electronic newsletter

We are delighted to re-launch our monthly ezine today. You will now receive it regularly including digested and summarised news and plenty of links for further information on issues related to allergy, asthma and COPD, that EFA or our members are involved with or are essential to know. The next issue will come out in August, after the summer break.

Svein Erik Myrseth
EFA President

Greetings from the EFA Conference 2007 in Sofia Bulgaria

Our annual conference, this year with the theme ‘Equality in Health for People with Allergy, Asthma and COPD in Europe – Through prevention and self management to better quality of life’ was held 30 May – 2 June, kindly hosted by the Bulgarians with Bronchial Asthma. The purpose was to update on the very latest research, share best practices on national activities by patient organisations and update on the EU policies having impact on patients with allergy, asthma and COPD. All the presentations are now available at EFA website.

The conference ended by presenting the points of action that urgently need to be taken on European and national level to answer the needs of our patients across Europe, prioritised and agreed by EFA members during the Conference. These will be summarised in the Forthcoming EFA Sofia Declaration and communicated to decision makers and stakeholders concerned, and input to EFA priorities.

EFA Annual General Meeting News

At the EFA AGM 30 May in connection of the Conference, president and two board members were elected. Svein Erik Myrseth from the Norwegian Heart and Lung Association was re-elected for his third period as EFA President. Otto Spranger from the Austrian Lung Association was re-elected and nominated by the new Board in their meeting 19 June to continue as EFA Treasurer, and Jenny Versnel from Asthma UK as a new-comer elected as board member. Jenny is the Executive Director of Policy and Research at Asthma UK and we are happy to welcome her on board. Nikoleta Grigorova from Bulgarians with Bronchial Asthma, EFA Board Member and Marianella Salapatas, EFA Vice President continue in the Board.

In the AGM, the EFA Annual Report 2006, including annual audited accounts and budget, Work plan 2007, Business Plan 2006-2008, Code of Ethics and Conduct, new strategic frameworks for Communications, Policy Formulation, Competence, Sustainable Partnership with Industry and Sustainable Partnership with Foundations, EU Institutions and other NGOs. These are being reread and will be published at our public website soon.

New face at the EFA Secretariat

We are delighted to let you know that Mariann Skar has started to work with us on EU policy on project basis in our Office in Brussels. Mariann is an independent and has worked at the European Commission Directorate General Public Health and consumer Protection (DG SANCO) and is also working with the European Network for Smoking Prevention (ENSP) as Project Manager. Mariann works with us on air quality, food labelling, training of members on EU policy and EU project planning.

EFA Response to the EC Consultation on Smoke free Europe

EFA very much welcomed the European Commission Green Paper Towards Smoke free Europe policy options at European level , as a significant step in our joint effort for a Europe where everyone has a right to breathe healthy air at home, work, school, day-care, public places - everywhere, second hand smoke being the major pollutant of indoor air and as such cause of exacerbations and worsening of respiratory disease and even a cause of respiratory disease. The aim of the Green Paper, launched 30 January, was to consult on the best way that smoking at work- and public places could and should be tackled on European level, in addition and supporting the actions of the EU member states.

After consultation with members, EFA together with our partner International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) submitted a response strongly supporting binding measures without any exceptions on European level, in synergy with our partner ENSP and based on the Commission mandate to regulate health and safety at work, and explaining why this is essential for patients with allergy, asthma and COPD.

All the responses to the EC consultation will be published at the Commission website and we will keep you informed on any developments.

The European Parliament Committee on Environment and Health (ENVI), lead Parliament Committee on the issue, Rapporteur MEP Carl Heiz Florens presented the ENVI draft report in response to the Green Paper in their meeting on the 5 June. The deadline for amendments from his colleagues in the Committee is 12 June.

On World No Tobacco Day, the EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou published the new Eurobarometer survey on Tobacco further demonstrating the overwhelming and growing public support of 88% for smoke free policies. Source: Commission press release

Does Rhinitis Lead to Asthma? Launch of the GA²LEN Campaign

The first public campaign of the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network of Excellence in which EFA is a partner was launched 20 April in London in connection of the third GA²LEN Annual Conference ‘Allergy throughout Life’. The objective is to inform patients and health care professionals of the importance of the link between rhinitis and asthma for the proper management of one or both these diseases, which is far from the case now. The Campaign is based on a GA²LEN review paper ‘Does rhinitis lead to asthma?’ that will be published in scientific journal Rhinology (in press). Two tools to help primary care professionals and patients to recognise and better manage allergic rhinitis were launched; leaflet ‘Does sneezing lead to wheezing? – What Allergic patients should know about the link between rhinitis and asthma’ and the ‘Role of the primary care physicians’. These are being translated in European languages for campaign launches and dissemination on national level by EFA members and other GA²LEN partners.

EFA-GA²LEN Workshop ‘What’s in it for the Patients?’

During the GA²LEN Conference, EFA organised a workshop for members to inform in detail about the Does Rhinitis Lead to Asthma Campaign and support available launching it on national level. The second part of the workshop discussed patient representative involvement and input in research in general and specifically on EFA member involvement in GA²LEN research activities as patient representatives. 20 members attended the Workshop and the presentations are available at EFA website.