The EFA Working Groups are an excellent channel for cooperation. EFA members support EFA by guiding, reviewing and commenting on policy documents such as consultations, positions and recommendations. Furthermore, they assist the development of EFA projects to ensure their correspondence to real members’ needs at the national level.
Within the working groups, EFA members also share tools, actions, experience and information, increasing their capacity and success at European and national levels. For EFA, the provided information is also useful in order to stay tuned to national contexts.
Six complementary working groups meet on a regular basis
The working groups are complementary to each other and have consultative and voluntary natures. The groups have contact every three months and meet face-to-face at least once a year at the EFA Annual General Meeting.
Currently, six Working Groups exist:
- Food Allergy Working Group: Members share best practices on food allergy management and the latest information and research in relation to this topic. The main priorities for this group are EU food labelling legislation, labelling and access to information, national and European guidelines on food allergy management and risk assessment, and food production such as cross contamination, anaphylaxis.
Acknowledgements: Contribution to EFA position on EU legislation on Information to Consumers on Prepacked Food (2005) and the EFA Food Detectives Project.
- COPD Working Group: Members share national experiences on COPD preventative measures through tobacco control and quitting support. In addition, they examine new ways to improve access to healthcare, including early diagnosis and rehabilitation, and promoting physical exercise.
Acknowledgements: Contribution to EFA Projects COPDMove (2017), Harmonizing Prevention and Other Measures for COPD Patients Across Europe (2014), Minimum Standards of Care for COPD Patients in Europe (2013).
- Allergy and Asthma Working Group: Members analyse new ways to improve healthcare access and reimbursement conditions for people living with asthma and allergy, and rethink other approaches to increase awareness and better preventative measures in Europe.
Acknowledgements: Contribution to the Allergy and Asthma Interest Group at the European Parliament activities discussion (2015), the EFA allergy Awareness project (YEAR?). The group also participated in EU projects were EFA had partnered on allergy (MeDALL) and asthma (AirPROM, EARIP, U-BIOPRED, MyAirCoach).
- Patient Education Working Group: Members share best practices to enhance patient education at national level and explore different ways of promoting patient empowerment like disease self-management (incl. eHealth), shared decision making and development of materials for patients use.
Acknowledgements: Contributions to the development of EFA project proposals (2017)
- Environmental Determinants Working Group: The main points of discussion of the group are EU indoor and outdoor air quality legislation, pollen concentrations and information, EU chemicals’ regulation and research and exposure effects on asthma, allergy and COPD patient’s health.
- Atopic Eczema Working Group: The group shares best practices and ideas to increase awareness on atopic eczema and improve their quality of life, the effectiveness of treatments, and the reimbursement conditions.
Acknowledgements: Contribution to EFA Atopic Eczema study on the Quality of Life and costs for people with severe atopic eczema in Europe (2017)