eHealth

EPHA Secretary General at OECD Forum May 22-23 2012

On 22nd May EPHA’s Secretary General will be in Paris to take part in OECD Forum, a three-day event that brings together around 2000 business leaders, academia and government representatives to discuss pressing issues on the international agenda. The five key themes for the 2012 OECD forum are: Indignation, Inequality, Inclusion, Integrity and Inspiration. The Forum will host a number of high-profile speakers, such as Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, /Robert Johnson, (...)

eHealth week– pursuing better accessibility and expanded literacy

Hosted by the Danish presidency, the eHealth week 2012 is taking place during this week in Copenhagen. The three-days long (May 7 to 9) series of high-level conferences, seminars and workshops are run under the motto “Smart Health, Better Lives.” This years’ eHealth week focuses on enhancing the continuity of care and patient-centric health services by applying innovative eHealth solutions in two fronts: fostering cross-border healthcare; and managing chronic diseases to (...)

eHealth Stakeholder Group (re)unites users and industry representatives

The first eHealth Stakeholder Group meeting took place on 29 March at the premises of the European Commission DG INFSO in Brussels. Discussions were led by Pēteris Zilgalvis (head of unit, ICT for health at DG INFSO) who provided an overview of relevant EU policy and research activities in eHealth. He went on to explain how eHealth is embedded into the Digital Agenda for Europe. Regarding the expressions of interest, the eHealth Stakeholder Group’s role will be to: Ensure an (...)

Message by Commissioner Dalli to honour Patients’ Rights Day

With the occassion of the 6th European Patients’ Rights Day (April 18), John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, released a video message on the occasion. In his speech, Commissioner Dalli summarised some of the key issues and challenges related to patients’ rights in the EU, indicating that they were at the forefront of every policy impacting on health. Specifically, he stressed: the access to high quality, affordable and safe healthcare regardless (...)

Healthy Ageing Partnership: From Plan to Action

On 3 April , EPHA attended the conference entitled ‘’The European Innovation Partnership: From Plan to Action’’ which followed the Commission Communication released on 29 February and presented the most coherent effort yet to find synergies between stakeholders in support of the EIP’s Strategic Implementation Plan. The Commission’s ‘’Invitation for Commitment’’ will remain open to stakeholders until 31 May 2012. The morning (...)

Getting drugs online: Illegal online pharmacies target young people

The International Narcotics Control Board published its Annual report 2011 in which it warns that an increasing number of illegal Internet pharmacies in the world target young audiences via social media - increasing risks of long-term addiction to medicines. The International Narcotics Control Board has chosen to highlight this new trend as national and international regulations find it difficult to address the issue so far. The Annual report 2011 points out that illicit drugs or (...)

Putting into action the European Innovation Partnership’s Strategic Implementation Plan

The Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) of the pilot European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing is taking shape, and a number of developments are being developed in support of it. Information workshops on call for projects Following the release of the Strategic Implementation Plan in November 2011 containing specific actions in six areas, the first call for projects has been launched under the Health Programme in January, seeking to support the deployment of innovative (...)

Digital Agenda Commissioner in favour of joint procurement to support cloud computing: will that benefit citizens?

European Commissioner for Digital Agenda and Commission Vice-President Nellie Kroes has asked European institutions and Member State governments to support joint procurement of computing services to encourage the use of cloud computing. Cloud computing enables vast amounts of data to be stored efficiently on off-site servers, enabling corporate computer systems to operate more smoothly. In February, Commissioner Kroes launched a European Cloud Partnership to promote links between public (...)

Digital Agenda: New coalition strives to keep children safe online

Keeping children safe online is a key commitment of the Digital Agenda. Hence the European Commission put together a coalition of 28 leading companies on 1 December to help protect children on the Internet. The founding members include big names from technology and media including operating systems providers, mobile phone and gaming manufacturers, telecom providers and social networks. The new coalition, which was formed following a call by European Commission Vice-President Nellie Kroes (...)

EPHA Briefing on the Digital Agenda for Europe

As one of the Europe 2020 strategy’s seven flagship initiatives, the Digital Agenda for Europe aims to deliver the the strategy’s headline targets through the development and uptake of new technologies, facilitated through fast internet connections and interoperable applications. The EPHA Briefing on the Digital Agenda for Europe explores some of the difficulties in finding the right balance between competition and innovation on one hand, and social inclusion and societal (...)