EPHA working meetings
March 2008 EPHA Policy Coordination Meeting (PCM)
The second PCM of 2008 was held on 5 March. The PCM, normally held every 6 weeks, is an opportunity for members to exchange information and views on the most up-to-date policy information. The Secretariat provides the minutes for the meetings and discusses recent developments relevant to the EPHA membership. The various EPHA Working Groups report back to the PCM on advocacy and communication activity relevant to their specific policy portfolios. The minutes of this March meeting are available on the EPHA website/Members only section. The next PCM will be held on 7 May 2008 at the new EPHA offices.
EPHA Working Groups
EPHA Food and Nutrition Working Group The EPHA Food and Nutrition Working Group met in March to discuss the Commission proposal on labelling. Please find the actions from this meeting on the EPHA website/Members only section. The next meeting of the Working Group will take place on 7 May. Please contact the Secretariat if you would like further information on the meeting or to join the EPHA Food and Nutrition Working Group.
EPHA Pharmaceutical Working Group The EPHA Pharmaceutical Working group met in March to discuss the Commission proposal on Information to Patients. The actions from this meeting will be published in the next couple of days. The next meeting of this Working Group will take place on 29 April. Please contact the Secretariat if you would like further information on the meeting or to join the EPHA Pharmaceutical Working Group.
EPHA, your ’eyes and ears’ in Brussels
EPHA attended the Info Day on 12 March in Luxembourg organised by PHEA and DG Sanco. This Info Day was organised in response to the published call for proposals under the European Public Health Programme. A short summary of the information day can be found on the EPHA website and in this edition of the EPHA newsletter.
The European Parliament Intergroup on Health and Consumer Affairs is jointly hosted by EPHA and BEUC (the European Consumers Platform). EPHA met with Age, who hosts the Parliamentary Intergroup on Aging, to discuss a possible combined Intergroup on ’Information to Patients’. The preliminary date for this Intergroup is 21 May 2008 (in Strasbourg, France). This is an opportunity to increase collaboration between the health community and the aging community in Brussels, as well as provides a valuable contribution to EPHA’s outreach and advocacy on Information to Patients. Please contact the Secretariat for more details.
EPHA attended an extraordinary meeting of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) Patient and Consumers Working Party on 17 March. The purpose of this meeting was to prepare a response on the Commission consultation on ’Information to Patients’. Please read a short report of that meeting on the EPHA website/Members only section.
EPHA participated in the Policy Seminar on "Implementing the new EU Health Strategy - what we can do" organised by EuroHealthNet, in collaboration with the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). The Policy Seminar was well attended by representatives from national, regional and local agencies, NGOs and individuals from Member State Ministries. For more information please contact the Secretariat.
On 11 March 2008, EPHA participated in the Life Style Risk Forum meeting organised by the European Policy Centre in Brussels. Please contact the Secretariat for more information.
Also on 17 March EPHA took part in a Tobacco Control Campaign Workshop organized by the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL). Please find a summary report of the workshop on the EPHA website and in the newsletter.
On 19 March EPHA attended a Consultation meeting on an Impact Assessment on Smoke-Free Environments, organized by DG Health and Consumer Protection (DG Sanco). A summary of the meeting can be found at EPHA’s website and in the newsletter.
On 6 March EPHA attended the "EU Environment and Health Action Plan: Mid-term review 2004-2010" which took place in the European Parliament. The report of this meeting will be available on the EPHA website shortly.
EPHA actively participated to the Round Table organised by the Social Platform on 18 March 2008 concerning activities for the 2010 European Year for combating poverty. The report is available in the Members Only section.
On 13 March 2008, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities together with French authorities organised a preliminary meeting for the organisation of the Seventh Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion that will take place on 15 and 16 October 2008 in Marseille. EPHA participated to the event and submitted its proposal. The report is available in the Members Only Section.
On 3 and 4 March, EPHA participated in a conference organised by the German Ministry of Health on health and the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). The participants discussed the merits and weaknesses of the OMC and its possible future applications to both healthcare and public health. For more information please contact the Secretariat.
EPHA health advocacy
At the beginning of March, EPHA Secretary General, Monika Kosinska, was interviewed by the European Voice in relation to public interventions aiming at reducing health inequalities. In response to a direct question centred on what represents a major issue of health inequality, Monika Kosinska pointed out the Common Agricultural Policy as an artificial means that maintains the high price of food and undermines the ability of poorest citizens to access vital healthy food. For further information, please see the second weekly issue (6-12 March 2008) of the European Voice magazine.
EPHA had the opportunity to participate in a Civil Society Dialogue in Zagreb on 19 March 2008. Caroline Bollars gave a presentation about EPHA’s work in Brussels and the impact of civil society on policy making. To read a report of that meeting, please consult the article on the EPHA website.
Following the decision taken in the European Parliament on the Commission Information to Patients proposal, EPHA supported the move by the Medicines in Europe Forum (together with ISDB, HAI and AIM) to urge MEPs to reconsider their decision not to open this the proposal to democratic debate in the ENVI committee.
EPHA, together with many EPHA members, also supported the initiative organised by the European Respiratory Society which called on Commissioner Vassiliou to reconsider DG Sanco’s inclusion of the tobacco industry in its dialogue with stakeholders.
Finally, in mid-March EPHA submitted a response to the European Commission on urban mobility. Please clich here for the response EPHA position on the Green Paper on Urban Mobility
For more detailed information on any of the above, or EPHA’s activities in general, please contact the Secretariat.
