Statement on the way forward: content and objective
Aim of the statement- to propose a forward vision towards an EU Health Information Strategy with concrete and constructive suggestions, whilst reaffirming the commitment of several organisations who wish to have an active role in the debate on information to patients.
Who should sign- considering the aim of the statement, all organisations with an interest in information to patients who can agree on the statement’s content should be able to sign it. This includes EPHA Members and non EPHA Members as well as organisations sitting on the Pharmaceutical Forum.
Tone of the statement - a positive and forward-looking tone
without using the past as a way of criticizing what has been done, what could have been done differently, etc. was felt to be more
appropriate.
Length of the statement - a compromise between length and level
of detail was proposed by adding a one page executive summary to the
statement.
Reference to the Pharma Forum and the Report on art. 88A - the
references to these two exercises have been watered down to a neutral
comment. The reference to them contextualizes the need for
different organisations to come together and state their commitment
to be part of a solid EU Health Information Strategy.
Reference to Public Private Partnerships - the reference has
been also revised to make it as neutral as possible and to clarify that PPPs are not the sole solution to all health information
gaps.
Main proposals to fill information gaps - to prioritise the European Medicines Agency project "Eudrapharm"; to further develop the role of the EMEA as a think tank for Health Information; to foster national platforms for health information; and to develop health literacy for patients and networks for libraries for Health
For more information, please refer to the full version of the Statement (attached).
Organisations endorsing the Statement
Considering the aim of the statement, all organisations with an interest in information to patients who could agree on the statement’s content have been invited to sign (see list attached).
The Statement was finally endorsed by 21 organisations across the health community:
Background information on the preparation of the statement
In May and June 2007, the EPHA Secretariat organised two informal meetings with EPHA members and other health and consumer organisations based in Brussels to prepare the response to the European Commission consultation on the provision of information to patients on medicinal products.
The aim of both meetings was to streamline the areas of agreement and disagreement of various NGOs on the Commission’s consultation. The meetings turned out to be very successful, and several points reached consensus among participants.
It was thus agreed that meetings should continue after the closing date of the Commission consultation with the aim to coordinate the actions of the health community (so, NOT only EPHA members) and to agree on an advocacy strategy to maintain public health concerns in the public debate on information to patients.
To fulfil this task, participants jointly agreed to set up an ad hoc working group on information to patients whose first mission would be to release a statement on the way forward. An invitation to join the working group was sent to a wide range of organisations that showed an interest in the discussions on information to patients. The list of invitees is attached to this article.
