It is a pleasure to invite you to the 2023 EFA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Community Members’ Meeting to take place from 27-28 April in Ghent, Belgium. 

This year we are glad to collaborate with Erika Colen and Karen Vande Casteele from our Belgian member organisation, Asthma-en Allergiekoeppel vzw. 

Programme development is ongoing working closely with the new Members’ Meeting Committee dedicated for this meeting. For the moment we can share with you that we anticipate a 1.5-day programme, with a full day of activities on the 27th. Moreover, the AGM business session will be available in a hybrid format for those who cannot or do not wish to travel.

Discover about Ghent and other practical information here .

Discover the meerting programme here.

Register here

EFA, supported by the European Lung Foundation ELF conducted a survey among EFA membership and the wider asthma patient association community to identify information on the asthma patient education materials available across Europe and wider. During the workshop we will discuss the results, best practices, and reflect on what is available for patients, identify the gaps in the current education material available to asthma patients and provide Patient Organisations useful data to entail discussions with national scientific societies to advocate for the implementation of the existing guidelines and for the improvement of asthma patients educational resources, to ensure that patients are better supported and empowered across their care.

Discover the workshop programme and register here. 

This training aims to increase EFA Members’ knowledge and skills to advocate for change at EU and national level, as well as to expand EFA Members’ understanding of EU and national level advocacy fields, and get familiar with ways to deliver an optimal advocacy campaign.

In order to accommodate everyone’s availability, avoid any overlap with your everyday job, and ensure high participation from you and your colleagues, the training will be taking place after working hours, on Thursday, 24th November 2022 from 17:30 to 20:30 CET, in an online format.

We look forward to seeing you in our online advocacy training! 

Discover the Training Agenda here

Register Now

The Meet & Greet the EU series is part of EFA’s 2022 Capacity Building Programme. Following our 2021 Meet & Greet with the EMA on patients’ engagement, this session aims to further develop Member knowledge of the form and function of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the new EU regulation expanding its mandate, and the entry into force of the Clinical Trials Regulation and what it all means for patients living with respiratory and allergic diseases.

Discover the agenda and Register Now

EFA is pleased to invite you to the upcoming event of the European Parliament Interest Group on Allergy & Asthma, ‘For an EU NCD Initiative that prevents and cares - Connecting the dots for better allergy and asthma health in Europe’, taking place on Thursday 29 September from 14.00 - 15.30 in person at the European Parliament, online participation is also welcome for this event. 

The event will revolve around the recently launched Healthier Together-EU NCD Initiative and its prospects for addressing allergy and asthma, two of the most common chronic non-communicable diseases in Europe. Beyond demonstrating the heavy and diverse health burden of the diseases, especially among children and the youth, the discussions will also aim to present policy proposals for better prevention and care.

Discover the preliminary agenda here.

The event will be hybrid format, held both in the European Parliament and online.

Please note the timing of the event has been changed from 15:00-16:30 to 14:00-15:30

Register now

EFA and the European Allergy and Asthma Youth Parliament is excited to invite young patients to take part in the Young Leadership Training. This capacity building event will take place 29-30th September 2022 in Brussels, Belgium. During these two days, participants will take part in workshops and tours to see up close how the EU operates. They will also skills and understanding in how as young patient advocates, they can have a voice in decision-making to improve the Quality of Life for young allergy and asthma patients across Europe.

• Discover the Preliminary Programme here
• Discover some Practical Information about Brussels. Please note that we will keep updating this document with more information, stay tuned!

Register your interest now.

EFA is pleased to invite you to a Members Re-Union in Rejkyavik, Iceland on 26-27 May 2022, hosted by Members Asthma and Allergy Society of Iceland and Icelandic Lung Association. While we encourage in-person attendance, online attendance will be available for some sessions. 

• Learn about the programme here and
• discover more about Iceland in this practical guide 
• Download the reimbursement form, if you are the delegate travelling to Iceland.

Register Here 

In 2020 the AGM was planned as an in-person event to take place in Reykjavík, Iceland on the 30th and 31st of March. The in-person meeting was cancelled following the WHO declaration of risk regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. Since, EFA has hosted two online AGMs with respect to local and international travel restrictions and health guidance.  

Given the ongoing public health situation, EFA Members were surveyed for their preferences for the AGM 2022 event format. From member feedback, EFA decided to host an online AGM with business and membership sessions, while postponing a hybrid Member Re-Union for 26-27 May 2022 in Iceland. 

Access the full agenda here.

Register Here 

EFA cordially invites you to the CURE conference, which takes place on 15 March 2022, 10:00-12:45 and 13:45-15:45 CET.

CURE is an EU Horizon 2020 project that aims to address imbalances in the respiratory microbiome contributing to asthma, thereby fostering improved disease management and even a cure.

The final event promises to be a thrilling exploration of the contributions of the CURE project, the way forward and challenges for phage therapies, innovations and best practices from outside the EU, and also a discussion on the legal and regulatory frameworks for future phage applications.

The MEP Lung Health Group will hold an online event in late January 2022 called ‘Improving lung health through the future European Health Data Space,’ co-organised by EFA and the European Respiratory Society.

Earlier this year, the European Commission launched the initiative to set up a European Health Data Space (EHDS), which recognises the immense benefits that health data sharing can bring to people’s diagnosis, prevention, disease management, and quality of life.

This online event will bring expert lung health and digital health speakers and participants together to discuss pressing matters including:

• The future of EHDS to improve lung health prevention and care
• How digital health technologies can serve respiratory outcomes
• The benefits of digitalisation in enabling self-management
• A best practices case-study on implementing the EHDS.

All organisations interested in lung health and digital health are welcome to attend.

Visit the Breathe Vision website and register for the event here.