EFA eZine September 2005

Welcome to the third issue of EFA's eZine.

September has been a very busy month for EFA with the launch of the 'Fighting for Breath' report at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Copenhagen, where we also held a stand, as well as meetings and of course keeping up with EU policy - some of which you will read about below.
With all best wishes from the EFA Central Office and Board.

Launch of EFA's Fighting for Breath Severe Asthma Report

EFA launched the results of the survey: Fighting for Breath - a European Patient's Perspective on Severe Asthma at the ERS Congress in Copenhagen this month. The first report of its kind, the report investigates and highlights the challenges and impact of severe asthma on people from across Europe.  The report showed that at least 1.5 million Europeans with severe asthma are living in constant fear that an asthma attack will kill them and that a quarter have speech limiting attacks at least once a week. 
For more information, see the report and presentations from the launch. For EFA members, the report of the launch is accessible at Members section of our website.

Oxygen supply for COPD patients traveling abroad

On 1 September 2005, the Netherlands based Oxygen supply company, CARE 0², who organizes various details involved in delivering medical oxygen released telephone numbers for oxygen supply across Europe and even on cruise ships.
For more information, visit the Oxygen worldwide website.

Comment on the new EU Public Heath and Consumer Protection Programme

The health industry wants the future EU health policy (see ezine 1/2005 issue) to focus on enhancing the competitiveness of the sector while NGOs wish to see bigger healthcare budgets. The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) has spoken to the press, expressing concerns that a joint programme for health and consumers may not be a good idea, as "the interests of individual consumers and the public well-being may sometimes conflict".
Source and more information: EurActiv.com, 31 August 2005

Legislation on Pediatric medicine

The use of unlicensed and off-label medicine for children is widespread and it has been of increasing concern in recent years. In the EU, fifty per cent or more of medicines used for children have never been actually studied in this population.  The EU Pediatric Medicines Initiative was initiated 2000.  A resolution was adopted by the European Parliament on 07 September 2005 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Medicinal Products for Pediatric Use (you may recall the joint EFA/European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Position Paper on the Consultation on draft proposal by the Commission of the regulation in April 2004). The main point of debate involved the best way to give incentives to pharmaceutical companies to invest more money in pediatric medicine. The Commission proposed that companies should have an extra six months of protection under existing patents. A number of Members wanted to have a shorter additional period or one, which depended on the size of the company. The proposal has yet to be read by the European Council and we will keep you informed.
Source: European Parliament Legislation Observatory
For more information, visit the EU Pediatric Medicines Initiative website.

UK EU Presidency focuses on: Tackling Health Inequalities and Patient Safety

Tackling health inequalities is a key health theme for the UK Presidency of the European Union, on 17-18 October, as well as key health determinants including nutrition, smoking and alcohol. Patient safety is the focus of a EU UK Presidency Summit on 28-30 November 2005 and it will look at ways of bringing together information and best practice from across the European Union to make health care services and products safer for patients. For more information on the priorities, visit the UK Presidency website.                      Source: UK Presidency

EEN sets its environmental priorities

The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) Environment Network (EEN) held its second Annual General Meeting this month. This year's policy priorities were adopted and these include: children's environmental health, implementation of the EU Environment and Health Action Plan, chemicals and air quality. EFA looks forward to working with EEN on some of these very important issues.                                                                            
Source: EEN website 

Learn more about the national anti-tobacco coalition in your country

The European Network for Smoking Prevention (ENSP) has released a report giving an overview of the main objectives, current activities, recent achievements and priorities for the future for each of the its National Coalitions Against Tobacco in Europe. These shows in clear terms what is being done at NGO to fight the tobacco epidemic across Europe in each individual country. If you are not yet a member of the coalition in your country, the report will also give the necessary contact information. For more information, see the ENSP Report.                                                  
Source: ENSP

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