On March 19th and 20th EFA celebrated the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Members in Brussels, Belgium and launched the EFA annual report 2018, Shedding Light into the Severity of Allergy and Airways Diseases. The AGM is our most important event of the year, where our Members gather to approve Budget, Work Plan and Strategy, as well as the Annual Report and accounts from 2018.
Members also welcomed the invitation of their colleagues from the Icelandic Asthma- and allergy association to host the 2020 Annual General Meeting in Reykjavik (Iceland), together with the Lung Association of Iceland.
EFA Working Groups: expert networks to learn, share best practices and take action
The EFA Working Groups sessions had an important role during the event to capture national needs and expectations on allergy, asthma, COPD, disease prevention and patient education.
During the meetings, EFA Members shared their work at national level and brainstormed on their ideas for EFA’s contribution on the many EU public consultations that will build on EU policies.
Participants also suggested ideas for EFA action within the 2019 projects, including the 2nd Atopic Eczema Awareness Day, the Food Detectives project and the dissemination of the Active Patients Access Care survey results, and how they can cascade and contribute.
Breakfast meeting at the European Parliament & Meetings with MEPs
On 20th March, the Asthma and Allergy European Parliament Interest Group, co-ran by EFA and EAACI, organised at the European Parliament a Breakfast Policy Meeting on a renewed EU policy agenda on allergy and airways diseases, co-hosted by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, FI) and Pavel Poc (S&D, CZ). Held in connection of EFA AGM, the patient representation was strong, in addition to our partners and other like-minded organisations who support better care and prevention.
Many EFA Members took then the opportunity to meet current MEPs from their national constituencies that will be running elections in May. During the meeting, EFA Members presented the situation of allergy and airways diseases patients in their countries and encouraged MEPs to #ShowLeadership with concrete actions at European and national level that would ease the lives of patients and the society as a whole.