European Liver Patients Association (ELPA) Takes to Twitter for Upcoming Congress

SINT-TRUIDEN, Belgium, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

ELPA is delighted to announce it will, for the first time, be utilising the real-time information network Twitter to transmit live updates to its followers from the forthcoming International Liver Congress, organised by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL ILC 2012) in Barcelona, Spain between 18-22 April, 2012 (https://twitter.com/#!/EASLnews).

Throughout the congress, ELPA will be communicating content from both the scientific programme and its own events via the official ELPA Twitter account, @HepatitisEurope and the using hashtags #LiverPatients and the EASL congress's official hashtag #ILC2012 (https://twitter.com/#!/hepatitiseurope).

Key announcements relating to the ELPA organisation, its initiatives at the congress and developments concerning the treatment and care of liver disease will be covered.

ELPA will also be communicating highlights from its Annual General Meeting on 20 April and policy update sessions, as well as providing coverage of its symposium on 21 April ("You Shall Not Pass!": Stopping Hepatitis C in Drug Users).

Dr Stanimir Hasurdjiev, Chief Executive of ELPA, concludes: "Twitter is a fundamental source of information for many of those individuals and organisations ELPA represents and, for the first time, we are delighted to be able to share our highlights of the forthcoming EASL Congress in real time - especially as the vast majority will not be able to attend in person."

About ELPA

ELPA's aim is to promote the interests of people with liver disease and in particular to: Highlight the size of the problem; promote awareness and prevention; address the low profile of liver disease as compared to other areas of medicine such as heart disease; share experience of successful initiatives and; work with professional bodies such as EASL and with the EU to ensure that treatment and care are harmonised across Europe to the highest standards.

ELPA emerged from a desire amongst European liver patient groups to share their experiences of the often very different approaches adopted in different countries. In June 2004, 13 patient groups from 10 European and Mediterranean Basin countries met to create the association. ELPA was formally launched in Paris on April 14th 2005 during the annual conference of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and now has 21 members from 17 countries.

For further information on activities being undertaken by ELPA at the EASL, please contact:

Martin Georgiev
E-mail: martin@elpa-info.org
Twitter: @HepatitisEurope
Telephone: +359-879-449-983