Meeting Reports

EFSA Stakeholder Consultative Platform meeting, 24-25 April 2008

On 24 and 25 April, the European Food Safety Agency organised the 7th meeting of the EFSA Stakeholder Consultative Platform in Parma which EPHA attended.
The meeting was opened by the EFSA Director, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, who provided the stakeholders with an overview of the progress on EFSA activities. After this intervention, Ritta Maijala, explained EFSA’s task as a risk assessor.
After the two general interventions, the Stakeholders had the opportunity to hear about EFSA’s (...)

Preparation for 7th Round Table on poverty and social exclusion - 7 May 2008

On 7 May 2008 DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, convened the second meetting with stakeholders to discuss the organisation of the seventh European Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion that will take place on Marseille next 15 and 16 October 2008.
Background
In 2006, the EU strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion, the so-called EU social inclusion strategy, was merged with two separate strategies on pensions and health to form a single EU strategy on (...)

EPHA Briefing ’Revision of International Health Regulations’

The WHO European Regional Consultation on the Revision of the International Health Regulations took place in Copenhagen, 9-11 June 2004.
The meeting, which was part of a process started in 1995 to revise the International Health Regulations (IHR), was intended to provide the member states in the WHO European Region with the opportunity to become familiar with the draft revision of the new IHR document and to identify problems and discuss solutions.
A briefing note prepared by the EPHA (...)

EPHA secretariat news April 2004

EPHA moves offices
On 5 April 2004, the EPHA Secretariat moved to a new office in the European quarter of Brussels. EPHA members are welcome to visit the office and talk to the team. Please update your mailing lists with our new address:
39-41 Rue d’Arlon, B-1000 Brussels.
The telephone, fax and email details remain unchanged.
Bridging the Gap
Tamsin Rose particated in the pre-meeting for speakers and moderators for the ’Bridging the Gap’ conference being organised by Eurocare in Warsaw in (...)

Roundtable on patient mobility process

Tamsin Rose participated in a Roundtable discussion in Brussels on 27 February 2004 to discuss the High-level Reflection Process (HLRP) on patient mobility.
Organised by the GPC and CHES/Madariaga Foundation the meeting was timed to provide input into the Commission’s response to the HLRP, due in March 2004. The background paper for the Roundtable.
EPHA briefing note on the HLRP
The Final report of the HLRP.
EPHA briefing on the results of the (...)

EPHA Secretariat news March 2004

EPHA on the move
After 9 years at Rue de Pascale, the EPHA Secretariat is moving to new offices at 39-41 Rue d’Arlon, B-1000 Brussels. The new space is centrally located near the European Parliament and easily accesible for public transport. The new office will make the work of the secretariat easier, it has a state of the art computer network as EPHA moves to an open source environment. Sharing office space with EPHA will be EPHA Environment Network (EEN) and the European Respiratory (...)

Roundtable on Health in the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research

A Roundtable on Health in the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7) was held on the 28 March 2006 at the Madariaga Foundation in Brussels.
The Roundtable had the aim of gathering opinions from stakeholders on the third "pillar" of the FP7-programme: optimizing health care delivery.
The background to this event was the current Commission proposal on the future 7th Framework Programme on Research which addresses health as one of its themes.
Lara Garrido Herrero gave a (...)

The European Parliament holds its constitutive meeting

The newly elected European Parliament begun its five-year term with a plenary session of 20-23 July in Strasbourg.
MEPs have approved the European Council’s nominee, former Portuguese Prime Minister José Durão Barroso, as the new president of the European Commission. In a secret ballot, Mr Barosso was endorsed by the majority of 413 out of 711 votes cast. The vote revealed a clear left-right cleavage within the Assembly. Whereas liberals, the centre-right EPP-ED and the far-right UEN (...)

Draft Agenda DG SANCO: Network of Competent Authorities, Health Information and Knowledge

First Meeting of the Network of Competent Authorities: Health Information and Knowledge Strand Community Action Programme on Public Health, Luxembourg, 10 July 2003 (10.00 - 17.00).
For more information, please contact the European Commission, Filomena Lopo.

British Retail Consortium Debate - Retailer Action or just Distraction?

EPHA participated in a debate with the food industry on healthy eating issues, organised by the British Retail Consortium.
EPHA took the opportunity to raise the issue of independent development of nutritional profiling by food manufacturers and retailers.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) held a lunchtime debate in the European Parliament on 4 October 2006, chaired by MEP Linda McAvan. Representatives from retailers such as Asda, Tesco, Marks & Spencers, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s were (...)

Seventh Meeting of the EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health

On 4 July 2006 the members of the EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, including EPHA, met for their seventh meeting. Robert Madelin, Director General of the European Commission’s DG SANCO, chaired and opened the plenary meeting of the Platform.
EU-US Conference Discussion
Debate arose following a debriefing on the EU-US conference on good practices held in May, which EPHA attended. Issues raised included lack of evidence for the effects of “education programmes” (...)

First meeting of nutrition and physical activity network

Please find below the draft agenda for the first meeitng of the Community Action Programme on Public Health Nutrition and Physical Activity (NPA) network, to be held on 30 June - 1 July 2003.
For more information, please contact the European Commission, Filomena Lopo.

So that eating rhymes with public health, June 2008

EPHA participated as speaker during Confrontation Europe’s conference in the European Parliament on 5 and 6 June 2008 to discuss eating and public health impacts.
A welcome speech was given by Jean-Marie Beaupuy, Member of the European Parliament (France) and an introduction by Claude Fischer, Director of Entretiens Européens.
The keynote speech was given by Dr. Francois Decaillet, representative of the World Health Organisation to the European Union. He provided a diagnosis of public (...)

Health Gaps in the Wider Europe: 10 Health Questions about the EU’s Neighbours

The World Health Organisation Europe Region has released a book which provides information on the health gaps of Eastern European countries, in order to support Member States improve the health of the population.
Europe is not uniform with regard to health and health status. Besides, health systems vary significantly between countries and these disparities are not always well recognised.
At the same time, abundant health data and health systems knowledge do exist, and comparing them across (...)

EU RIP Cigarettes Alliance or the waifer of paper that would save 1000 lives

The RIP campaign at EU level is coordinated by Florence Berteletti-Kemp at the Smoke-Free Partnership. Created in 2006, The EU RIP Alliance is a new independent and flexible partnership open for membership.
Launched at a hearing in the European Parliament in February 2007, the EU RIP Cigarettes Alliance campaigns for safer cigarretes in Europe.
In view of the fact that it is technologically and economically feasible for cigarettes to meet fire-safety standards, the EU RIP Alliance aims to (...)

Draft Agenda DG SANCO: Meeting on Alcohol and Health

Please find below the draft agenda for the Meeting of the Working Group on "Alcohol and Health" on 11 and 12 June 2003 in Luxembourg.
Joint meeting with representatives of interest groups (alcohol industry, advertisers and NGOs).
For more information, please contact the European Commission, Filomena Lopo.

Outcomes of the World Health Asembly - Intergovernmental Working Group on Essential Health Research and IPRs

EPHA attended Médecins Sans Frontières debriefing session on the outcomes of May’s World Health Asembly (WHA). The session focussed on the WHA’s resolution on essential health research and intellectual property rights (IPRs) - see the attached report on WHA Towards a Global Strategy. It was also an opportunity to discuss the key issues and opportunities raised by the newly created intergovernmental working group.
Background Information by MSF The Commission on Intellectual Property and (...)