BARCELONA, Spain, June 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Yesterday, representatives from the European Commission, European Parliament, European Medicines Agency, European Patients Advocates, Industry, key EU Health Stakeholders, primary care and pharmacist organisation, EAACI leadership and its national allergy societies agreed during a high-level EU stakeholders meeting in Barcelona to work together at policy level on action which will help tackle this epidemic.
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Nikos Papadopoulos, immediate Past President of EAACI, stated that prioritisation of allergy on the EU health and environment policy agenda is urgently needed. Success in tackling the allergy crisis in Europe will require partnerships between all interested stakeholders and collaborative actions at EU policy level.
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Sirpa Pietikaïnen, who chairs the new MEP Interest Group on allergy and asthma in the European Parliament, said: "We need to act now and rally strong political support to take concrete actions." Pietikaïnen further insisted that a strong EU action plan inclusive of both health and environment issues is of paramount importance.
Guest speakers Christine Rolland, Marta Munoz Cuesta, Sergio Bonini and Roberto Gradnik - representing respectively the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Association (EFA), the European Commission (DG Environment), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises (EBE) - highlighted the main priorities from a patient, policy, scientific and industry perspective.
All panellists agreed on the importance to improve the patients' accessibility to appropriate care. Two of the key steps in that direction would be to formally recognise the allergology medical specialty and ensure adequate allergy training and education for primary care to improve early and accurate diagnosis. The necessity to develop a comprehensive EU strategy on chronic diseases and to foster allergy research in Europe by ensuring allocation of sufficient funding, were also addressed as main priorities.
Antonella Muraro, incoming President of EAACI concluded that EAACI, announced that the next meeting of the MEP group on Allergy and Asthma - which is jointly coordinated by the EAACI EU Liaison Office in Brussels and EFA - will take place on 1 July at the European Parliament. The meeting entitled 'Allergy and Asthma Patients need clean air in Europe' will be a collaborative policy forum to debate current EU efforts to review clean air legislation and to ensure allergy patients' needs are duly considered by EU policymakers.
Full press release: https://hkstrategies.egnyte.com/fl/pN1HnM1f9o
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