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Monthly Newsletter edited by Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network
Civic Activism | Patients' Rights | Consumers' Rights | Support ACN
Year 8th, number 82 - July,August 2020

SPECIAL EDITION ON
THE EUROPEAN CHARTER OF PATIENTS’ RIGHTS

Highlight

Active Citizenship Network is glad to announce a new website section totally dedicated to the European Charter of Patients’ Rights where it will be possible to find the Charter in your language and all the ways to use it as an empowerment, informative, legal and monitoring instrument to enhance the respect of these fundamental human rights.
After many years, the reasons that led us to draft it in 2002 and to encourage its implementation throughout Europe year after year are more current than ever, as the dramatic pandemic crisis has testified.
So, in this difficult context, in July 2020, we have decided to launch a social media awareness campaign to improve the online visibility of the European Charter of Patients’ Rights. This also because, during the years, going beyond the ACN constituency, a so called “European Movement for Patients’ Rights” was born spontaneously.
The new section represents also a way to support all the ones focused on implementing the principles stated in the Charter and on proclaiming it in the framework of the European Patients’ Rights Day (EPRD) at the local, national, and European levels.

Focus

In 2002, ACN, together with organizations from 15 EU countries, established the European Charter of Patients’ Rights. It lists 14 fundamental patients’ rights which each EU country must protect and guarantee. Drafted in 21 languages, it has become a reference for EU citizens’ rights in health care and a milestone for other EU Charters. In 2020 ACN gathered all the many achievements, information, documents, activities, and publications, realized over the years thanks to the European Charter of Patients’ Rights, in these new webpages, where you can find what has been done and what you can do with it!


Patients' Rights

A Charter of Rights is a document containing a set of rights which express ways to protect the more general citizens’ rights. In this first section, you can find what a Charter of Rights focused on health is and why its implementation is fundamental. The section also describes the characteristics of a Charter of Rights and how ACN has practically applied the European Charter of Patients’ Rights over the years as an empowerment, evaluation and participation tool and as a legal instrument. Read more.

All the translated versions of the European Charter of Patients' Rights, including posters, leaflets and the Charter’s full texts are now available on Active Citizenship Network’s website. The languages the Charter can be found in are today 21: Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish, Ukraine. Read more.

The rights stated in the European Charter of Patients’ Rights have as the main starting point the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and several international declarations and recommendations, issued by different subjects such as the World Health Organization and the Council of Europe. This new section emphasizes up to 19 documents that could be identified as hypothetical “forerunners” of the Charter. Read more.

Many directives and laws have implemented the principles of the Charter both at the European and national level, advocating for the protection of patients’ rights and making its principles and values become a reality in the health systems across Europe. The section shows 8 examples on how, over the years, the European and national Institutions underlined the importance of the European Charter of Patients’ Rights by endorsing it in their official documents. Read more.

Since the establishment of these fundamental patients’ rights, the European Charter of Patient’s Rights has become crucial and has inspired many other Charters of Rights in Europe. A new section which cites 17 Charters that were born thanks to the European Charter of Patients’ Rights is now available on our website. The Charter of Rights against Unnecessary Pain and the Colombian Carta de los Derechos de los Pacientes are only some examples. Read more.

The section provides a selection of the main websites that host and help us promote the principles of the European Charter of Patients’ Rights. The section includes six institutional and non-institutional websites, among which the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, and several universities, that support us in this fight towards the achievement of a better healthcare system that respects all the patients’ rights. Read more.

Over the years, the European Charter of Patients’ Rights has been published in different ways, mainly in the form of reports and policy papers, but also in several books and studies. Our new section provides you with 14 examples on how and where the principles of the Charter have been published around Europe. Read more.

Since its creation in 2002, the European Charter of Patients’ Rights has been the main topic of many public events, web and press articles. Our new section highlights the main 14 events and articles that have discussed about the Charter in the last years, providing links and useful information on when and where the events took place. Read more.

“The updating of the webpages dedicated to the European Charter of Patients’ Rights has been possible thanks to a policy-focused healthcare charitable contribution by Upjohn, a Pfizer division”


 


Director and Editor in chief: Mariano Votta
Editors: Daniela Quaggia, Maira Cardillo e Giulia Decarolis
Coordination and Production: Giacomo D'Orazio 

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