One year after the end of the pandemic, prevention, immunisation and treatment, along with adequate information, remain essential to continue the fight against COVID-19 infections, especially when they threaten the most vulnerable populations.

These were the topics at the heart of the European workshop organised by Active Citizenship Network, which, thanks to the valuable collaboration of external experts, brought together a select number of leaders of civic and patient associations interested in becoming more involved in the contexts in which they already operate.

The associations, which we thank for their participation, are:

• Lower Austrian Patient and Nursing Advocacy - NÖ PPA (Austria)
• Bulgarian Association for Patients' Defence – BAPD (Bulgaria)
• The Innovations Institute (Bulgaria)
• International Council of The Patient Ombudsman (Croatia)
• Croatian Association for Patients' Rights - CAPR (Croatia)
• Cyprus Federation of Patient Associations - CyFPA – OSAK (Cyprus)
• Institute of Research for Innovation and Development – IMKKA (Greece)
• Irish Patients' Association (Ireland)
• Tribunale per i diritti del malato-Cittadinanzattiva (Italy)
• National Patients' Organisation (Malta)
• Malta Health Network (Malta)
• EPECS (the Netherlands)
• Institute for Patients' Rights and Health Education - IPPEZ (Poland)
• STOMAlife fundacja (Poland)
• Azorian Association of Chronic Pain Patients - ADDCA (Portugal)
• Portuguese Health Literacy Association - SPLS (Portugal)
• European Association for Educational and Preventive Health in Epigenetics (AESEP), Portugal
• Kultlab Celje Society – DKC (Slovenia)
• The Slovenian foodbank - SIBAHE (Slovenia)
• Association for Justice and Control (Slovenia)
• Universidad del Paciente y de la Familia - UPF (Spain)
• The National Federation of Associations ALCER (Association for the Fight against Kidney Diseases) (Spain)

PROGRAMME

Empowering & mobilizing PAGs on COVID-19 (and long COVID)
Prevention, immunization & treatments

EU workshop
14 October 2024 | Martin’s Hotel Brussels & on-line
14:30 – 18:30

Moderator: Bianca Ferraiolo, Head of the Representative Office to the EU at Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network

14:30 – 14:40 Introduction
Mariano Votta, Responsible for EU Affairs at Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network, Italy

14:40 – 16:00 Educational session (including Q&A)
Vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases (VPRDs): focus on Covid-19

Dragoslav Popovic, member of the WFPHA Global Immunization Task Force

• Infectious respiratory diseases as a current health problem

• Prevention and vaccination against vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases from a public health perspective

• From Covid-19 pandemic to endemic: the role of variants and their impact at the EU level Covid-19 & long covid, from prevention to treatments for vulnerable target groups

Liudmila Mosina, Technical Specialist, Vaccine-preventable Diseases & Immunization, Division of Communicable Diseases, Environment and Health at the WHO Regional Office for Europe

• Overview on global and regional covid-19 vaccination policy

Aliya Kosbayeva, Technical Officer, Project Coordination and Country Support, Health Workforce and Service Delivery Unit, Division of Country Health Policies and Systems at the WHO Regional Office for Europe

• Service delivery models for people with post COVID-19 conditions in selected European countries: summary report

16:00 – 16:15 Coffee break

16:15 – 18:15 Communication & advocacy session (including Q&A)
Frank Angelo Spinelli, Global Medical Director, COVID-19 Antivirals at Pfizer

• Advocating at the global level: The COVID Community Council

Kinga Wójtowicz, Head of the RPP Brussels Office

• The composition of the EU Parliament and the new public health champions

• Promoting EU policy dialogue with MEPs and presentation of the open letter addressed to the new EU institutions

Joanna Muller and Mita Dhullipala, Health team at Stripe Communications

• From the “European Year of Skills” 2023 to the EU social media campaign on the need to prioritize the upskilling of health professionals in 2024

18:15 – 18:30 Next steps
Bianca Ferraiolo, Head of the Representative Office to the EU at Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network

• Towards the third mandate of the MEPs Interest Group "European Patients' Rights & Cross-border Healthcare"

20:00 Networking dinner

To download the participants' list, click here

To watch the full recording of the meeting, click here

To watch the photo gallery on Active Citizenship Network’s LinkedIn page, click here

To know more, click here