A European Conference to present recommendations from stakeholders to European policy-makers to address the issue of chronic diseases.

Friday 11 May, 10.00 to 16.00, Mundo B, Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels

The European Council, in its Conclusions of 7 December 2010 invited the European Commission and Member States to: “initiate a reflection process aiming to identify options to optimize the response to the challenges of chronic diseases, the cooperation between Member States and summarize its outcomes in a reflection paper by 2012; and to lead this reflection process in close dialogue with relevant stakeholders, including patients, professionals, healthcare payers and providers, and take into account e-health and the potential contribution of other relevant policy areas, in particular employment, disability, education and housing.”

With this conference, stakeholders pro-actively nurture the reflection process and address challenges and solutions they have identified on the matter of chronic diseases (more…)

COPD is the EU 5th cause of death and yet, it has not make reached the EU political agenda yet. 

In its response to the EU stakeholders consultation on chronic diseases, the European COPD Coalition highlighted the need for enhanced prevention, care, research and training on COPD in the framework of the reflection process on chronic diseases.

The ECC is calling for a future European strategy on chronic diseases that will include strong political actions to address risk factors of COPD, inprove care and treatment, together with advancing research and training for healthcare professionals.

Read the full answer to the consultation: ECC Answer Consultation CD_April12.

The European Commission Consultation document is here.

UK deputy calls for more awareness of ‘fifth biggest killer’: theparliament.com

The Launch of the European COPD Coalition and of its Call to Action is reported in an article published in the Parliament Magazine, a weekly that covers European institutions related news.

Invisible COPD. No one talks about it and yet 1 in 10 adults in Europe are affected by this disease. Launch of the Call for Action in the European Parliament

On the 21 March 2012, a European Call for Action is launched in the European Parliament to tackle the 5^th biggest cause of death in the world. Health professionals, patients and policy makers gather in Brussels to officially launch the European COPD Coalition and its Call to Action during a meeting hosted and organised by MEP Glenis Willmott.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) remains largely unknown, while it affects up to 10% of Europeans. Raising awareness on this long-term and irreversible disease affecting lung and airways is one of the objectives of the European COPD Coalition that was  officially launched today.

“COPD is more than a smokers’ cough, it is a life-threatening disease and a vast burden on society and fragile economies, accounting for 10.3 billion Euros in healthcare spending a year in Europe” stated Catherine Hartmann, Secretary General of the European COPD Coalition. “Every hour COPD is estimated to kill over 250 people worldwide, and yet, this does not make the news and is ignored by policy makers”, regretted Hartmann.

The European COPD Coalition launched  a Call to Action today to seek political impetus to put in place the right framework addressing all aspects of COPD: disease prevention, care and treatment, research and, education and training of professionals. It also aims to raise awareness on this largely preventable condition. “The European Union works on chronic diseases, funds research and innovation projects and aims to promote healthy ageing: it is really hard to grow old healthily when breathing is difficult. The Call to Action aims to ensure that COPD is integrated into the regulatory framework at EU and national levels.” further explained Hartmann.

In the coming month, the European COPD Coalition will strengthen its Call to Action by collecting signatures of support and with specific round tables dedicated to each strand of measures, in order to make pragmatic proposals to the EU and national decision makers. This will ensure that all specialists and experts are involved into designing SMART actions in disease prevention, care and treatment, research and, education and training of professionals.

Photos taken at the event.

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On the 21 March 2012, ECC Call to Action on COPD was launched in the European Parliament in Brussels. Health professionals, patients and policy makers gathered in Brussels to officially launch the European COPD Coalition and its Call to Action during a meeting hosted and organised by MEP Glenis Willmott.

ECC calls for Health policy decision- makers to support patients, their families, carers and the entire society impacted by the burden of the disease, by creating a framework programme that will be aimed at eliminating avoidable COPD incidence and premature death [more].