children and adolescents

Commission proposes new Fund for European Aid for the Most Deprived

The European Commission has proposed to set up a European Aid Fund to help the Most Deprived Persons in the EU. A successor to the Food Aid to the Most Deprived, this new Fund would support Member State schemes not only by providing food aid to the most deprived people, but also clothing and other essential goods to homeless people and materially-deprived children. The proposal is yet to be approved by the European Parliament and the European Union’s Council of Ministers. The (...)

**Save the date** From Rhetoric to Action – Tackling Child Poverty and Promoting Children’s Health and Well-being in the EU

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Jean Lambert, Marian Harkin, Edit Bauer and Sylvana Rapti have the pleasure to invite you to the seminar “From Rhetoric to Action - Tackling Child Poverty and Promoting Children’s Health and Well-being in the EU.” The event is organised in collaboration with the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and will take place at the European Parliament on 4 December 2012. Background Poverty and health have a vicious relationship. (...)

EPHAC Press Release. World Food Day – Agricultural cooperatives key to feeding the world

16 October 2012, Brussels - The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) World Food Day provides an opportunity to highlight the plight of the millions of undernourished people in the World, BUT also the increasing problem of overconsumption and associated chronic conditions of overweight and obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. EPHAC Press Release. World Food Day – Agricultural cooperatives key to feeding the world. The co-existing (...)

EPHA contributes to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights on the Right of the Child to Health

At the beginning of September 2012, EPHA submitted a six-page contribution to the Child Advisor of the UN OHCHR, summarising various issues that are within its remit related to children’s health and well-being. EPHA highlighted innovative, relevant EU-level practices, as well as a list of issues to be considered when making the right to health of children a reality. After having received a letter from the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights requesting input from civil (...)

Fifth stakeholder dialogue on the EU Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion

As part of its 5th stakeholder dialogue on the EU Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion, the European Commission presented updates on its planned Social Investment Package, the 2012 Poverty Convention, and reports on Active Inclusion and Adequate Pensions. Consideration of health and inequality issues seems to be gaining greater importance on the Commission’s agenda, with the main theme of the 2012 Poverty Convention reserved for "Inequalities". The first part of the (...)

EPHA joint Working Group on Children’s health and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

EPHA joint Working Group on Children’s health and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights met on September 13 to discuss EPHA’s future advocacy in the area. The meeting provided the opportunity for participants to exchange views on: the main developments related to children’s health that have occurred since the last meeting, European Commission recommendations on child poverty, forthcoming activities in the area of children’s health, European Parliament (...)

Allergens and the new Food EU legislation - event in the European Parliament (Sept. 19)

The European Federation of Allergy (EFA), in co-operation with the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), organised an event to debate mechanisms to enhance the protection of the health of people with allergies. The event hosted by MEP Renate SOMMER (EPP-DE) examined the characteristics of food allergy, the main elements of the new legislation (Regulation 1169/2011/EU), and recent developments on risk assessment in relation to food allergens. The event put forward (...)

EPHA participates in Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL) Annual General Assembly - Brussels, 13 Sept.

As a member of the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), EPHA has participated both in the organisation’s Annual General Assembly and in its air quality policy workshop. Monika Kosińska, EPHA’s Secretary General, was re-elected as a Member of HEAL’s Executive Committee. HEAL’s Annual General Assembly (AGA) presented the organisation’s main achievements for the period March 2011 – March 2012. During its AGA, HEAL also elected its Executive (...)

European Commission’s EU Youth Report 2012 prioritises health and well-being of young people

The statistics are bleak. Youth unemployment in the EU among 15-24-year-olds has increased by 50% since the beginning of the economic crisis and are now 22.5% on average. Latest figures released by Eurostat show that highest rates are in Greece (53.8%) and Spain (52.9%). Since the first Report in 2009 a number of policies aimed at youth were introduced. In addition to employment and social inclusion, the Youth Report 2012 (produced every three years by the EU Commission) calls for health (...)

Reaction to misleading tobacco industry statement - public health NGOs letter to the editor

Following a disingenuous and deceitful press release issued last Sept. 5th by the European Confederation of Tobacco Retailers, a coalition of public health NGOs, of which EPHA is an active member, has sent today a reactive letter to the editor to the main European media outlets. The industry’s press release argues against the revision of the Tobacco Product Directive by putting forward manipulated evidence of the impact that this new directive would have in Europe’s revenue and (...)