This month EFA is preparing to co-host a patient symposium at the ERS Congress in Vienna, there is news on our presentation at a Food Allergy Training Course organised by EAACI, on a meeting of the Global Alliance of Respiratory Diseases in St. Petersburg and on an EU project to assess the harmful and often allergenic effects of ragweed in Europe. EFA also reports from various international meetings we have been attending and speaking attending EFA activities at ERS Congress 2012 EFA is getting ready to attend the annual Congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) which will take place from the 1st to 5th of September inVienna. The Congress is the biggest respiratory meeting in the world, and will be attended by participants from over 100 countries. Through 43 sessions, workshops, symposia and seminars, they will have the possibility to refresh their knowledge and gain practical and theoretical information on the latest innovations in practical and patient care. Different programmes will be on offer including a scientific programme, a primary care programme and an educational one. EFA is looking forward to holding its own information stand in the Congress’WorldVillage, and to welcoming all who wish to drop by! In addition to this, at ERS we will be promoting awareness of two EU funded projects in which we play a role. These are the AirPROM project – which aims to develop models to predict airway disease progression, in turn permitting personalised treatments – and the U-BIOPRED project – a research project to increase our understanding of severe asthma. EFA’s main role in these is communication, dissemination of information, answering of ethical questions and provision of patient perspective. Also of interest will be the AirPROM Living Lab Workshop on the 1st of September, where project members will present on Patient Specific Modelling and showcase the project’s progress to delegates. More Congress information EFA at the EAACI Allergy School in Vienna On the 23rd-25th of August, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), in collaboration with Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA²LEN), organised the third Food Allergy Training Course in Vienna, bringing together healthcare professionals and patient representatives with food allergy. The main focus of the Allergy School was on the diagnosis and management of food allergy. In the run-up to the event EFA submitted an abstract which was subsequently accepted for presentation. As a result, EFA’s EU Policy and Project Officer Roberta Savli presented on the necessity for better labelling to empower patients with food allergy, and invited all the participants to take part in the EFA event at the European Parliament on food allergen labelling. EFA attends workshop on ragweed in Europe On the 24th of July a workshop on the development of ragweed in Europe was held at the Directorate General for Environment in Brussels. The workshop was the final meeting of the EU funded project Assessing and controlling the spread and the effects of common ragweed in Europe. Started in March 2011, it has lasted for 18 months with the objective of establishing the economic, social and environmental quantification of directly and indirectly harmful effects of ragweed in all sectors. EFA was represented by Roberta Savli. The project’s outcomes show that the total costs of ragweed in Europe amounted to 16.1 billion EUR in 2011. In the case of health, the costs of medication amounted to 3.5 billion EUR while the costs of administering treatment amounted to 0.1 billion EUR. The project was exclusively focused on ragweed as an invasive non-native species, which causes problems for agriculture and people with allergy. It is estimated there are 5% more allergic people due to the spreading of such species. For additional information and to receive the presentation, write to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. EFA in the European Commission health newsletter EFA was pleased to see that the EFA respiratory allergies project was mentioned in the June edition of the European Commission’s health newsletter, an EU e-publication sent out twice monthly. In it the recent publication of EFA’s book on respiratory allergy in Europe, ‘Raise Awareness, Relieve the Burden’ is talked about, and EFA’s campaign to raise awareness about respiratory allergy is outlined. More information EFA at the GARD annual meeting in St. Petersburg The WHO Global Alliance against Respiratory Diseases (GARD) had its annual meeting in St Petersburg on the 9th-10th of July. EFA is a founding member and was represented by Michael Rutgers, the Director of the Astmafonds. GARD works to bring together all stakeholders under the WHO umbrella and to improve care worldwide. Thus far in Europe, GARD Italy and GARD Netherlands have been particularly successful as country level initiatives under the GARD umbrella. More information EFA speaks on the role of patient organisations and on the relevance of nutrition In July, EFA Executive Officer Susanna Palkonen spoke at the Key Opinion Leader Management Conference in Basel on the role of patient organisations. She also presented on the Asthma/COPD experience of nutrition, in a conference inBrussels for EU patient groups on the relevance of nutrition. Patients have specific needs when it comes to nutrition, and this is particularly crucial for people with severe COPD. EFA KOL Presentation EFA Nutrition Presentation EFA presents on food allergen labelling at restaurant association meeting EFA, accompanied by two members, Marianne Jarl and Giorgio Salerni, also popped in at the membership meeting of the European Modern Restaurant Association (EMRA) to share the views of patients on food allergen labelling in non-prepacked food. EFA EMRA Presentation Member Best Practice Presentation