The European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress took place this year in Paris from the 15-19 September, right after the EADV Congress. The ERS Congress is the biggest event worldwide in the respiratory field, with 21,000 delegates registered, and a crucial occasion for patient associations to learn about the latest research studies about the lung health, meet key opinion pneumologists and researchers and make the work and patient priorities known among healthcare professionals.
Just before the official opening of the ERS Congress, EFA participated in the European Lung Foundation Patients Organisations networking day focused on patient education. EFA assistant Sofia Romagosa presented an a poster arising from the Severely Asthma! video project that encapsulates the different experiences that severe asthma patients go through to get an accurate diagnosis, a fulfilling social life, an involvement in research and the information they need to avoid when possible exposure to dirty air.
The World Village hosted also several EFA member organisations who had the chance to present their organisations and their activities through presentations at the World Village Theatre and by participating in networking meetings, such as the ELF International Patient Advisory Committee, where European patient groups had the chance to meet with organisations from the rest of World, for example Alpha-1 Global, the US COPD Foundation, NPO J-Breath from Japan and GAAPP (Global Asthma and Allergy Patient Platform). EFA presented our latest activities and projects, in particular the Severely Asthma! project, an educational video series featuring severe asthma patients in different European countries where we learn about their experiences, challenges and knowledge on specific issues around severe asthma such as diagnosis, research, triggers and the impact on their social life.
MyAirCoach featured during Congress
Among the over 80 symposia that took place during ERS Congress, we highlight the one on digital evolutions in respiratory medicine, where Prof Omar Usmani from the Imperial College of London presented the results of the clinical studies ran in the framework of the MyAirCoach project which has built a self-management e-health tool that helps patients and healthcare professionals to take informed decisions about asthma. Prof Usmani also presented the prototypes and the mobile platforms that have been developed by the project consortium in collaboration with a group of expert asthma patients pooled by EFA and our member Asthma UK.