2015 was an exciting year for EFA. In a year filled with activity we want to take this opportunity to pick out some of our main highlights.
One particularly significant highlight was the development and launch of our new and mobile responsive website, making it easier for visitors to navigate our different areas of work as well as finding information on the different conditions of the patients we represent.
Another significant event was the launch of the European Parliament Interest Group on Allergy and Asthma, in collaboration with EAACI. Under the leadership of MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen (Finland, EPP), the Interest Group on Allergy and Asthma is helping to align interests and trigger EU
policy actions on allergy and asthma health. The members of the group will provide a strong and unified contribution to EU policies on chronic diseases, air pollution, and research among others. Following its launch in March the interest group continued to grow in membership throughout 2015 and we look forward to increased membership and activity in 2016.
As part of our campaign advocating for free travel with medical oxygen, we used World COPD Day to highlight the challenges faced by patients when travelling with medical oxygen, and the need for harmonisation of COPD care across Europe. We launched an updated version of the booklet 'Enabling Air Travel with Oxygen in Europe' and through our campaign materials shared the personal challenges encountered by patients from across Europe, when travelling with medical oxygen.
Our involvement in exciting research continued with the EARIP and MyAirCoach projects in 2015. As part of EARIP we developed recommendations for health care systems change in asthma and we identified the research needed moving forward. MyAirCoach is a 3 year mHealth project which started in 2015, and as part of its first year EFA was involved in setting up the Patient Advisory Forum, helping ensure that patients play a key role in the development of solutions to help them manage their conditions.
We continued with our capacity building project and our tailored EU training Meet and Greet programme. These programmes allow us to work with our members to support and empower them in carrying out independent and effective advocacy and representing their own members.
2015 was also the start of our Asthma in Adolescence project. EFA carried out a survey to help improve our understanding of the views of adolescent patients in terms of their compliance with, and adherence to, asthma therapy. The objective is to help support the development of strategies to strengthen the compliance of adolescent asthma patients. We will keep you updated with this project when results are published later in 2016.
In the area of tobacco and smoking EFA represented patients at the 16th World Conference on Tobacco and Health in Abu Dhabi. We also contributed the views of patients in the fifth edition of
In the arena of clinical trials EFA provided patients’ contributions for the implementation of the EU clinical trials regulation and discussions on medical devices legislation. We also continued our participation in the European Medicines Agency’s activities and working groups. Patients are key stakeholders and bring a crucial ‘real-life’ perspective to scientific discussions on medicines and the impact of regulatory decisions. This collaboration has been shown to result in better, patient-focused outcomes in the regulatory process. EFA will continue to engage with EMA in their work and to work with them to ensure more opportunities for meaningful patient involvement and engagement.The Tobacco Atlas. In 2015 EFA continued to support patients’ involvement in the implementation of the EU tobacco products directive. Some of our member organisations also witnessed and campaigned for exciting legislative developments in their own countries, with Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France passing plain packaging legislation.
Each one of 400,000 early deaths from air pollution is one too many and in 2015 EFA continued our joint campaign for better air quality. As part of a coalition of health and environmental charities we campaigned for stricter air pollution limits in the EU clean air package and campaigned on the NEC Directive at each stage of its progression. While the end of the year was disappointing, with a vote on a diluted NEC Directive we can still move things in the trilogue, so our further engagement in 2016 will be crucial. The Allergy and Asthma Interest group also held event at the European Parliament to raise awareness of the link between asthma, allergy and air pollution and we established the first EFA working group on environmental determinants.
We represented the views of patients with food allergy on food allergen labelling when we presented at the Universal Exposition Milan in October 2015, and this year we started to map “may contain” labelling use across Europe, a key barrier for patients.
In conclusion, together with our members, and with the support and collaboration of all our partners, we were able reach key milestones in our shared journey towards a Europe where all people with allergy, asthma and COPD in Europe have access to the care and the environment they need, and are involved in decisions affecting their health. We look forward to a productive and collaborative 2016 with all our partners.
These are just some of our highlights from a busy and productive year for EFA and our member organisations. Our membership grew again last year and we welcomed new members to the EFA family. Our members are crucial to our work and we look forward to working with you all throughout 2016, helping give a voice to the millions of patients across Europe who are living with asthma, allergy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We look forward to hearing about your own activities at a national and regional level, and as always EFA is here to support and promote your campaigns and activities.
The Board and Team of EFA would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your hard work, collaboration, and your crucial support to us this year. We look forward to working with you throughout 2016 on a variety of exciting projects which will bring us even further towards achieving our mission to be the voice of European patients with allergy, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to enable them to be actively involved in the decisions impacting their health.