Advocacy
What do we do for you?
EUFOREA is composed of an international network of key opinion leaders, doctors and researchers with expertise in the field of allergies and airway diseases. Experts provide recommendations to health policy-makers regarding the latest advances in healthcare management, based on clinical evidence, health-economic studies, and success rate of implementation.
The EU political agenda on the prevention and management of chronic respiratory diseases
Context and EU actions
The European Union is at the forefront of the global effort to better understand, prevent and manage chronic diseases including allergic and chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs). The 2010 Council of the European Union prioritised the understanding, prevention, and management of chronic diseases. The Polish Presidency of the EU Council (2011) targeted chronic respiratory diseases in children to promote their early recognition, prevention, and management to ultimately impact Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA). The developmental determinants of CRDs in the ageing have been reinforced during the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council “Healthy ageing across the lifecycle” (2012) and by an EU-NIH meeting held in Montpellier (2013).
In collaboration with GARD (Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases), the Directorate General of Health of Portugal, the EIP on AHA (European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, DG Santé and DG CONNECT) and the Région Occitanie (France), a high-level meeting was organized July 1, 2015, with all major European scientific societies and patient’s organisations in Lisbon to review the implementation results of AIRWAYS ICPs (Care pathways for airway diseases).
Role of EUFOREA and political initiatives
EUFOREA forms an alliance of all stakeholders from national and international organizations, working towards the common vision of reducing the burden of allergy and airway diseases. To support the EU actions, EUFOREA has organised yearly EU summits in collaboration with all major European scientific societies and patient’s organisations:
Global CRSwNP Awareness Day
20 April 2022, European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium
On 20th April 2022, EUFOREA celebrated the launch of the very first Global Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps (CRSwNP) Awareness Day in Brussels. This campaign aimed:
- to raise awareness of CRSwNP and comorbidities (asthma, atopic dermatitis, and its impact on quality of life among physicians, and policymakers),
- to encourage healthcare professionals at all levels to learn more about how they can improve outcomes for patients living with CRSwNP through improved diagnosis, treatment, and referrals to specialist care,
- to educate patients on the symptoms of CRSwNP so that they can seek appropriate care in managing their disease or to support loved ones suffering from CRSwNP and associated comorbidities including Asthma, Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema, and Allergy - respiratory or food allergy).
Click here for the 2022 Global CRSwNP Awareness Day materials
Click here for the 2023 Global CRSwNP Awareness Day materials
EUFOREA Symposium 2019 – Accelerate the healthcare transformation in Allergy & Airway Diseases through the implementation of digital and educational solutions in a changing world
03 May 2019, The Maltese Parliament, Valetta, Malta
The EUFOREA symposium recently took place in the main parliamentary chamber of the Maltese Parliament with the Prime Minister, The Honourable Leader of the opposition and prominent members of the parliament in attendance.
Key members of the medical community discussed and debated aligning a structured approach in respect of the implementation of the role of digital technology in the transformation of healthcare and climate change. Digital and educational solutions were proposed to improve patient quality of life with a view to agreeing on a consensus to formulate EUFOREA’s 2019 – 2020 Patient Educational Programme in Allergy and Airway Diseases ‘From Self-Assessment to Self-Management’.
Concepts will be further developed with reported outcomes to be available to the wider community.
Press Release by the Office of the Speaker - EUFOREA Malta Symposium 2019
EU Summit 2018 – Air Pollution & mHealth. Prevention and Control of Chronic Respiratory Diseases
23 March 2018, Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament), Vilnius, Lithuania
Air pollution and climate change represent two major health threats of the 21st century. These threats particularly impact chronic respiratory and allergic diseases, but there is insufficient recognition of the problem. mHealth will represent a major improvement in the understanding and mitigation of air pollution.
The EU Summit in Vilnius followed a GARD General Meeting (Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases, WHO) held in Brussels (November 10, 2017) that already set the scene for the fight against air pollution using mHealth. The EU Summit 2018 has generated crucial concepts that will be further developed during follow-up meetings.
EU Summit 2017 – Prevention and self-management of chronic respiratory diseases
29 March 2017, EU Parliament, Brussels, Belgium
On March 29, 2017, a European Summit on the Prevention and Self-Management of Chronic Respiratory Diseases (CRD) was organized by the European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airway Diseases. The event took place in the European Parliament of Brussels and was hosted by MEP David Borrelli and MEP Sirpa Pietikainen. The aim of the Summit was to correspond to the needs of the European Commission and of patients suffering from CRD to join forces in Europe for the prevention and self-management. Delegates of the European Rhinologic Society, European Respiratory Society, European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, European Academy of Paediatrics, and European Patients Organisation EFA all lectured on their vision and action plan to join forces in achieving adequate prevention and self-management of CRD in the context of Precision Medicine. Recent data highlight the preventive capacity of education on optimal care pathways for CRD. Self-management and patient empowerment can be achieved by novel educational online materials and by novel mobile health tools enabling patients and doctors to monitor and optimally treat CRDs based on the level of control. This report summarises the contributions of the representatives of different European academic stakeholders in the field of CRD.
Read the full article here