EFA held its Board Meeting followed by a Funding Partners Meeting on the 12th of April in Brussels. EFA Board Member Breda Flood participated as a patient representative meeting at the European Medicines Agency. EFA also attended the European Respiratory Society’s seminar on “Research and Respiratory Medicine: Addressing future challenges for improved lung health”. This event was hosted by Members of the European Parliament I. Tsoukalas and S. Hassi. It was organized as part of the Year of the Lung, and ERS President N. Siafakas presented new challenges that need to be addressed by research including the unexplained rise in asthma, lack of understanding of multiple forms of asthma, the absence of cure for COPD, and the ageing of population. To see ERS press release about the event: http://dev.ersnet.org/1687-medical-research-is-vital-to-inclusive-growth.htm EFA attended the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe seminar on "Impact of Internet Pharmacy Services and Medicine Services on Patient Healthcare and Safety" hosted by MEPs A. Parvanova and M. Harkin. Medical information and medicines are increasingly available online, which is according to them a growing concern because it can be misleading, and internet is a very important chain of supply for counterfeit medicines. The first session dealt with health service providers while the second focused on Patients Perspectives. In summary, the conclusion was that there is a need for more comprehensive regulations and cooperation at the EU level to ensure patient safety. Internet can offer new possibilities, but awareness among patients and consumers on risks needs to be raised. To see a summary and video of the event: http://www.alde.eu/index.php?id=42&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=22553&no_cache=1 EFA also participated to the 4th European Patients’ Rights Day event “Putting citizens at the center of EU health policy”. This event was aimed at supporting the European Patients’ Right Day 18th April, as this initiative is not yet made official at the European level. The day is dedicated to raising the awareness among patients on their rights, and to promote these rights. Several MEPs together tabled a ‘written declaration’ in order to make it official, but the signatures of half of the MEPs are needed. This written declaration should be available soon at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/plenary/writtenDecl.do?language=EN More information: http://www.activecitizenship.net/