Secretariat News June 2009

EPHA working meetings

On 9 June, EPHA welcomed François Decaillet Senior adviser from the WHO-Regional Office for Europe who gave a interactive and stimulating session on Europe’s place in the world to the participants of EPHA Training Programme for Young Health Professionals. For more information on the Programme, please check this.

EPHA also attended the working group of the Civil Society Contact Group in order to organise the upcoming exhibition ’Meet civil society’ at the European Parliament in October. For more information on EPHA’s work regarding the institutional renewal, please click here.

On 11 June 2009, EPHA took part in a joint stakeholder meeting on Information to Patients & the Pharmaceutical Package. The meeting was organised by AIM and held in their offices. EPHA made its position on the Package and on Pharmaceutical Policy known, the meeting was useful as it allowed EPHA to gauge the positions of other key stakeholders and the support for EPHA’s position. Please read the full report here

On 22 June 2009, EPHA met with representatives of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to discuss the second European Antibiotic Awareness Day on 18 November 2009. EPHA took part in the day in 2008 and met with ECDC to discuss cooperation in 2009. The meeting was useful for EPHA to understand the context and the further implications of the day as well as discuss what actions EPHA would take to spread the message of antibiotic awareness. More information will be available on the EPHA website soon.

EPHA, your ’eyes and ears’ in Brussels

On 8-9 June, EPHA attended the annual meeting of the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue. Topics that EPHA followed at the meeting included food and nutrition issues, nanotechnology and the regulation of financial markets. Please find a summary report here.

EPHA took a part in the 7th and last seminar organised by the future Belgian Presidency of the Council to discuss with civil society. The theme was the Lisbon Agenda and its renewal. Please find a summary report here.

EFSA held a Technical Meeting on health claims applications for representatives from the food and drinks industry on 15 June 2009. EPHA attended as a member of the Stakeholder Consultative Platform. Please find a summary report here.

On 17 June 2009, EPHA attended the European Economic and Social Committee’s public hearing on "Work and poverty : towards a necessary holistic approach" as an observer. The EESC is currently formulating an opinion on the issue. To have more information on the issue, please click here.

In June, EPHA was awarded membership of the NGO Liaison Group of the Economic and Social Committee. EPHA took part in the first meeting where it presented its application and received information about the ongoing work of the Committee. For more details, please click here.

EPHA visited the University of Maasticht to listen to a presentation of a former member of staff at EPHA. The presentation was of the thesis they had written while at EPHA on stakeholder dialogue within the EU, using the Pharmaceutical Forum as a case study.

On 26 June 2009, EPHA attended the launch meeting of the European Action on Drugs, an initiative from DG Justice, Freedom and Security. A meeting report will follow shortly.

EPHA health advocacy

On 2 June 2009, EPHA gave a presentation to the, NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent registrars working on Public Health. The presentation was the opportunity for a member (the Health and Europe Centre) to hear about what activities EPHA is carrying out on their behalf and to discuss EPHA’s work and priorities.

On 4 June 2009, EPHA had a meeting with representatives of the Swedish Permanent Representation to the European Union to discuss positions on key issues in health systems that are coming up in the Swedish Presidency. EPHA also used the opportunity to invite the Swedish Health attaché to attend a Policy Coordination meeting.

EPHA participated at the EFSA Consultative Stakeholder Platform on 4-5 June 2009. The Platform discussed issues relevant to the work of the Authority, including issues of transparency in its scientific opinions, its communication strategy, and the review of the terms of reference. Please find a full report here

EPHA took part in the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) joint meeting of the Patients and Consumers Working Party and the Health Care Professionals Working Party. The meeting, held on the 9 June 2009 in London, discussed the EMEA transparency project and other methods of involving Patients and Consumer Organisations. Please find a full meeting report here

The 3rd Meeting of the Alcohol Policy Network was held in Stockholm between 10-12 June. The meeting, organised in the context of the ’Building Capacity’ project, brought together a large number of key actors from across Europe to discuss alcohol policy developments. Please find a meeting report here