EFA proudly brings together 45 member organisations from 27 countries, representing a diverse network of national patient associations advocating for people living with food allergies, atopic eczema, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Our members range from small, volunteer-led groups to well-established organisations with teams of up to 80 full-time employees, supporting communities from a hundred to two million patients and carers. This diversity strengthens our collective voice, ensuring that the needs and experiences of patients across Europe are heard and addressed.
In 2024 we were delighted to welcome two new member organisations who voted in at the 2024 AGM and joined the EFA Community: the AAA Association of patients from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Malta Eczema Society. In addition, three new member organisations submitted applications andwill be voted in at the 2025 AGM: Allergissima (Switzerland, Food Allergy), Luxembourg Allergy Network (Luxembourg) and AADA Association of People affected by Dermatitis (Spain, Atopic Dermatitis).
EFA 2024 Community Meeting
Every year, EFA organises a Community Meeting for its membership. In 2024, the event took place in April in Stockholm, Sweden, focused on the theme: Stronger if we are together: Partnership for Empowerment and Leadership.
The programme of the meeting was developed by the Community Meeting Committee (composed of six EFA members from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) through two dedicated meetings ahead of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2024.
The event gathered 24 EFA members from 18 European countries. Seven members presented their best practices around how to build effective collaborations. In addition, and for the first time ever, the event hosted EFA Community at large, welcoming partner NGOs (EUPATI and Global Skin) and EFA Sustainable Corporate Partners, to explore effective collaborations to strengthen the allergy and respiratory patients’ community across Europe.
Excellent job! All members were enthusiastic due to the dynamic format and appropriate time for networking and discussions
We are happy to be part of EFA and much appreciate the fluent, easy and pro-active communication between us and the personal relationship we are building with all of you. We hope to improve more and more our mutual support
Thanks, EFA, for the awesome event. I’m really grateful for the chance to be there and meet great people, learn new things, and make friends. Your hard work made it all possible, and I appreciate it!
Excellent job! All members were enthusiastic due to the dynamic format and appropriate time for networking and discussions
EFA Working Groups
EFA also continued its efforts to improve the participation in the Working Groups, including in-person discussions at the annual Community Meeting, to better understand members’ needs and priorities. Four working groups were active in 2024 (Atopic Eczema, Food Allergy, Allergy and Asthma, COPD), for a total of 13 meetings organised and two workshops dedicated to the launch of the new report “Raising the Bar for Better Standards of Care for COPD”.
EFA Allergy & Asthma Youth Parliament
Through the Allergy & Asthma Youth Parliament, EFA kept young patient advocates abreast of EU developments and policies that are important for their health, while providing a space for them to share their ideas, challenges, successes and experiences. The initiative aims to foster national youth patient leader’s knowledge and interest into the regional decisions affecting them, at EU and WHO Europe level, and involve them in EFA daily advocacy work to include the views of the youth.
Beyond the regular YP meetings, EFA further integrated the Youth Parliament members into its own activities:
- 2 YP members joined in the EFA Annual General Meeting, where they engaged constructively in the discussions.
- Members of our youth community attended many of EFA’s policy activities, including public events and internal workshops.
- 3 EFA Youth Parliament members got the EUPATI certification training and became EUPATI fellows, while four of them are currently undergoing the training.
- Active involvement in the EU Funded project TOLIFE, representing the perspective of informal young caregivers for COPD patients in the project Patient Advisory Group (PAG).
- Participation in the Community of Practices for the EU funded project Lung Health for Life (LH4L), to bring the experience of young patients, share and inspire new methodologies for lung health prevention in young people that can then be replicated across Europe.
- 1 blog post on the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day 2024. The post was inspired and drafted by YP member Idoia Moràn Fernández, who addressed the impact of tobacco smoke on health and the recent smoke-free measures in Spain.