HealthVent event at the European Parliament – Health-based ventilation guidelines for Europe
On 20 February 2013 EFA organised an event in the European Parliament at which the HealthVent project consortium presented the HealthVent guidelines (see our January article). The event was hosted by MEP Catherine Stihler and attracted more than 50 participants who learnt about the project’s results and exchanged ideas in view of the final report of the project. To breathe healthy air indoors is a fundamental right that is regularly breached. This is leading to 2 million healthy life years being lost annually in Europe due to poor quality of indoor air (EnVIE project estimation). The European Union has declared 2013 the Year of Air and the public consultation for the revision of air pollution policy framework has been just concluded. A Green Paper on indoor air quality has also been sought by many stakeholders. It is clear that ventilation guidelines should be established on the basis of protecting human health. The HealthVent project (July 2010 - March 2013), in which EFA is a partner, was implemented with this aim in mind. It developed health-based ventilation guidelines for non-industrial buildings in Europe taking into consideration energy efficiency. EFA’s representative, Marie-Luise Luther from Swedish member-organisation, presented the patients’ perspective on clean indoor air need, emphasising the special needs of patients with allergy, asthma and COPD. Marie-Louise mentioned patients’ testimonies gathered by EFA’s members around Europe, as well as best practices developed by associations who attempt to improve the daily life of those patients. At the moment, the final report of the HealthVent project is being finalised and the health-based ventilation guidelines are about to be published soon. In the meantime, any further comments or input may be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The presentations from the event are available for download in PDF format here and a photo gallery from the event here. For further information, please visit the HealthVent website.