The XX edition of the European Patients’ Rights Day took place on 12 May 2026 at the European Parliament in Brussels, within the framework of the EU-funded PROPHET project in which Cittadinanzattiva is one of the partners.
The event, entitled “Empowered citizens, personalised care: a new era for prevention in Europe”, brought together European institutions, researchers, patient and civic organisations, industry representatives, and key stakeholders to discuss the future of prevention in Europe. The room was full, with participants joining from across Europe. Overall, we received registrations from 18 countries, as well as online participation requests from 34 countries, confirming the strong interest in personalised prevention and patients’ rights at the European and international level.
This 2026 edition was dedicated to prevention and, in particular, to personalised prevention. When the European Charter of Patients' Rights was written in 2002, the very first right it listed was the Right to Preventive Measures. Not treatment. Not cure. Prevention first.
Today, we not simply celebrated that right. We were watching it evolve. It now extends to genomic screening, digital risk assessment tools, and personalised health interventions — approaches tailored to each individual's biological, environmental, behavioural, and socio-economic profile. But this transformation can only succeed if citizens and patients are recognised as active participants. Without their informed and meaningful engagement, personalised prevention risks remaining an innovative promise that never achieves its full societal impact. That is why events like this matter: they bring together different stakeholders — starting from citizens, patients, and their organisations — to better understand together where we are heading, and what we need to get there.
Click here to watch the full recording of the event.
Below is the full agenda. By clicking on the speakers’ names, you can download their presentations.
Moderator: Mariam Zaidi, journalist
14:00–14:20 | Opening remarks
• MEP Brando Benifei, S&D Group, Italy (event host)
• Daniela Quaggia, Cittadinanzattiva – Active Citizenship Network
14:20–14:35 | How EU institutions are committing to personalised prevention and why it matters now
• Carmen La Plaza, Head of Unit, Health Innovations & Ecosystems, European Commission.
14:35–15:05 | PROPHET results: the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and the Personalised Prevention Roadmap. Opportunities, barriers, and what it means for citizens and patients
• Luigi Russo, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC), PROPHET Coordinator
• Carla van El, Amsterdam University Medical Center (Amsterdam UMC), PROPHET partner
15:05–15:40 | Roundtable – Stakeholder perspectives
• Patient/citizens’ voice: Yasemin Zeisl, European Patients’ Forum (EPF)
• Researcher: Martina Cornel, European Society of Human Genetics
• European Partnership on Personalised Medicine EP PerMed: Matteo Gentili, Fondazione Toscana Life Sciences
• Industry: Nathalie Moll, Director General, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA)
15:55–16:00 | Conclusions & next steps: Mariano Votta, Cittadinanzattiva – Active Citizenship Network
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