Helsinki, 8-9 November 2012 - Representatives from the Finnish Allergy Programme (FAP) joined participants from three EFA member delegations visiting Helsinki from Bulgaria, Italy and Norway to educate them on the FAP's origins and successful implementation. The two day meeting introduced the FAP in a clear and understandable format, while allowing for an opportunity for the delegations to collaborate and brainstorm comparable national programmes for allergy within their own national and regional contexts.
As a continuation of EFA's ongoing Allergy Awareness Project, the meeting was a first glimpse of the direction in which EFA hopes many European countries will take in coming years. The FAP has successfully reduced the burden of allergy in Finnish society to date and the representatives from the FAP enthusiastically shared their successes, which included a decrease in asthma prevalence by 24% as well as decreases in allergy avoidance diets of 20% in schools and 25% in daycare centres.
Below you will find links to two different Press Releases, one for lay public and one for people more familiar with the field of medicine. Both are available in PDF and Word formats.
The event report is available here.