To attend the event in person, please register here by 16 April
(registration is free but mandatory)

Please note that registrations are accepted on a first-come-first-served basis.
If the maximum capacity is reached, registrations might be closed at any time.

The European celebration of the European Patients' Rights Day - which has reached its 17th edition - will be held at the European Parliament in Brussels on April 26 from 15:00 to 17:00, kindly hosted by MEP Brando Benifei (S&D) and organised by Active Citizenship Network with the support of the MEPs Interest Group "European Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare" and the TRANSFORM MEP Interest Group.
The current narrative related to the European pharmaceutical legislation review seems to be limited to the following statement: “the fate of the pharmaceutical sector is at stake as well as the future of national health systems”. What about the justified expectations of patients? How can innovation and access be combined? To try to answer these questions, the 17th European Patients’ Rights Day will gather inputs from the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Members of the European Parliament, the World Health Organization, Patient Advocacy Groups from different countries, independent experts and relevant stakeholders in the field of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products.
The 2023 conference represents the first in-person European celebration of the European Patients' Rights Day since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and, to give more people the opportunity to participate, it will be also web-streamed.
The link to the live streaming and the conference agenda will be disseminated in due time.
Read more and follow us to be informed about all relevant details.

To know more about ACN’s commitment on the topic:

- "Securing Equitable Patient Access to Advanced Therapies across Europe"
- "Advanced Therapies Medicinal Products revolution & the respect of the patients' right to access to care": the Call to Action signed by more than 40 Patients' Advocacy Groups (PAGs).
- HEALTH EUROPA (5th January 2023): The value of investing in Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products

To attend the event in person, please register here  by 16 April
(registration is free but mandatory)

Please note that registrations are accepted on a first-come-first-served basis.
If the maximum capacity is reached, registrations might be closed at any time.

The Conference will be held on 27 April 2023 from 10:00 to 12:00 in Room ASP 3H1 at the European Parliament in Brussels, kindly hosted by Italian MEP Beatrice Covassi(S&D). This multi-stakeholder event represents a milestone in the policy dialogue process that first involved local, regional and national, and now European institutions. It is part of the final stage of the European project AHEAD that has received funding from the European Union’s EU CHAFEA – 3rd Health Programme.
The ultimate aim of the event is to present to the European Institutions the main recommendations, tools and concrete proposals, based on analysis and research in the project countries (Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania and Serbia) to address the phenomenon of medical desertification.
To give more people the opportunity to participate, the conference will be also web-streamed.
The link to the live streaming and the conference agenda will be disseminated in due time.

Read more and follow us to be informed soon about all the relevant details.

To know more:
- Action for Health and Equity: Addressing medical Deserts
- Special session on medical deserts in Italy

Poland: Vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases, challenges and recommendations for the future
In recent years, respiratory diseases have become one of the most important health challenges of the modern world. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) was pointing to this urgent health problem and calling for long-term strategies to combat these diseases. Click here to download the document produced by ACN’ historical poland partner Institute for Patients Rights & Health Education, titled “Vaccine-Preventable Respiratory Diseases - Challenges And Recommendations For The Future” report. IPPEZ. Warsaw, November 2022. The document hosts also the contribution “Why we must address vaccine-preventable lung infections this winter”, drafted by the ACN’ Director.

Diagnosis and treatment pathway for covid-19 patient in Poland
We are convinced that the discussion around COVID-19 will continue in the coming years - also in terms of access to new therapies. Developing optimal solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients is crucial from a social, systemic and ethical perspective.
Click here to download the document produced by ACN’ historical poland partner Institute for Patients Rights & Health Education, titled “Diagnosis and treatment pathway for covid-19 patient in Poland”.

The European Patients’ Rights Day & you: send us a video to celebrate it
As with previous editions of the EPRD, also this year Active Citizenship Network would like to celebrate the European Patients' Rights Day - on the occasion of its 17th edition - with messages from all stakeholders who, over the years, have supported our ongoing commitment towards citizens and patients. For this reason, we are collecting short video messages (maximum 30 seconds) and statements that highlight what European Patients' Rights Day means to each of us. Now more than ever, with the continuing health and humanitarian crisis, the celebration of the European Patients' Rights Day is an opportunity to send a message of hope and constant commitment to protecting the health and well-being of citizens. We would be happy and grateful if you would send us a short written statement or video message by April 10 via email to brussels@activecitizenship.net or WhatsApp to +32 489 705047. All messages and videos will be disseminated through ACN's channels (twitter, newsletter, official website) in the days between April 18 and 26, after your explicit written permission in the email/message.

BioReCer meets Italian Consumers’ Organizations
The stakeholders’ workshop has been held on 13 March, 2023 in Rome at the Unitelma Sapienza as part of the WP4 activities of the H2020 EU Project BioReCer (Biological Resources Certifications Schemes), focused on circular economy. In particular, BioReCer aims at assessing and complementing current certification schemes for biological resources according to the new European sustainability goals to enhance bio-based circular systems.
The meeting, organized by the Unitelma Sapienza team, was the first occasion to present the main goals of the abovementioned project to the Italian consumers’ organizations.
Invited by Cittadinanzattiva, representatives of the following national consumer organisations joined the meeting: ADOC, ADICONSUM, UDICON. The Secretary General of the "European Consumer Union", a European consumer organisation, was also present as an observer. On behalf of Cittadinanzattiva, the Responsible for Consumer Policy was involved in the panel.
To know more, click here, and join HERE the BioReCer pool of stakeholders!

4 -7 May 2023 | Menorca Island (Spain): Sine Dolore World Park
The Sine Dolore Association, historical spanish partner of Active Citizenship Network, works tenaciously to make the invisible visible. Pain, in fact, is a major social and public health problem that affects 20% of the population of the entire planet (according to the World Health Organization). Precisely to make the suffering of so many people more perceptible at all levels, Menorca becomes for a few days each year the Sine Dolore World Park, a large theme park against pain and for the quality of life unique in the world. To know more, click here.