EFA’s 10th annual “Meet & Greet the EU training” was organised as 2 virtual half-day meetings on 10 and 17 February 2021. Named ‘The EU at a policy crossroads: What role for allergy, asthma and COPD patients?’, the training aimed to increase the understanding among EFA patient networks about the policies and opportunities at EU level.
On the 1st day, EFA members were given an overview of current trends in EU health policy, including the new EU4Health programme and its focus on prevention; the moves towards deeper policy alignment as part of a European Health Union; and the EU effort to draw learnings from the COVID-19 crisis. They also had the opportunity to hear from external experts on specific policies that will impact the EFA community throughout 2021, such as the F-gases regulation affecting asthma and COPD patients, the review of the Ambient Air Quality Directives, the initiatives linked to Indoor Air Quality, and the food allergen labelling. The latter was chosen as the case-study topic for the practical workshop of the 2nd day.
Thanks also to the digital tools that allowed EFA Members to attend the meetings from all over Europe, participation was high.