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European healthcare is currently under unprecedented strain, driven by an aging population and a 77% burden of chronic diseases. Today, the majority of the €1.7 trillion healthcare budget is spent on treatment, while less than 4% is dedicated to prevention.
To address this urgent challenge, Active Citizenship Network (ACN) has released a new video highlighting the key moments and discussions from the 20th European Patients' Rights Day (EPRD), hosted at the European Parliament.
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.
From 18 to 20 May 2026, the EU-funded OH-FINE project General Assembly took place at the FiBL campus in Frick, Switzerland. On that occasion, all consortium partners — including Cittadinanzattiva-ACN — gathered together with the EU Commission’s project officer, Céline Choquer (REA), to discuss and evaluate the project’s development.
The meeting covered several topics, such as the progress made in establishing and populating the Organic Farming Learning Community (OFC) and the Organic Farming Community Platform. The latter is a collaborative platform for stakeholders focused on ecological management, soil health, and market strategies, while supporting stakeholder involvement, engagement, and awareness-raising activities. These two tools were also presented to selected consumer organisations from across Europe at the EU workshop "Responding to consumers' needs: a qualitative assessment", organised in Rome, Italy, on 29 and 30 April 2026.
As part of the OH-FINE project's Work Package 10 on sustainability, communication and dissemination of results, ACN organised the EU workshop "Responding to consumers' needs: a qualitative assessment.” on 29 and 30 April 2026 in Rome.
While speakers and representatives from other consortium organisations joined the meeting remotely, it was attended in person by fourteen consumer organisations from eleven countries: InfoCons Association (Romania), Movimento Consumatori (Italy), CONSUMUR (Spain), European Consumers Union (Belgium), National consumer confederation (Lithuania), Union of Working Consumers of Greece (Greece), Cittadinanzattiva (Italy), Association for legal aid to consumers (Bulgaria), TALENTED BORDERS (Latvia), Lithuanian national consumer federation (Lithuania), IMPACT2040 (Latvia), SIBAHE - Slovenian Food Bank (Slovenia), Buy Responsibly Foundation (Poland), ACOP - Associação de Consumidores de Portugal (Portugal).
The initiative aimed to facilitate discussion and highlight the innovative aspects of the OH-FINE project, such as strengthening farmers' capacity to meet citizens' and consumers' needs and expectations. To this end, it is essential that consumers are engaged with and listened to. That's why all project partners — especially those from Spain, Belgium, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Poland — were invited to join the first session and make initial contact with the associations from their respective countries, with the goal of involving them in national-level activities where desired.
The second webinar on the "Right to innovation: understanding personalised prevention in Europe", realized in the framework of the EU-funded project PROPFHET, took place on 10 of March 2026. Fine modulo More than 90 participants attended, with active discussions around innovation, personalised prevention, and the role of citizens and patients in making these approaches a reality.
The co-OPERATOR project, funded under the EU4Health programme, aims to improve communication and knowledge skills to address systemic barriers and facilitators to effectively communicate vaccination messages to populations. In this context, a Policy Lab aims to translate evidence from the co-OPERATOR project into actionable vaccination policies to address COVID-19 and flu vaccine hesitancy in the EU. Following the Policy Lab organised in April 2025, a second closed-door Policy Lab on the challenges of vaccine promotion was organised at the Maastricht University Brussels hub on 19 March 2026.
18 March 2026 | 14:00 – 16:00
Room ASP 5E3 | European Parliament, Brussels
On 19 March 2026, Active Citizenship Network organised, at the Maastricht University Brussels Hub, the EU Policy & Advocacy Workshop, “Protecting the value of prevention across Europe: focus on RSV & maternal vaccination”, made possible thanks to the unconditional support of Pfizer. During the event, independent experts from the European Confederation of Primary Care Paediatricians and the Global Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants provided updated information on maternal vaccination and the impact of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Key stakeholders involved in the initiative included health professionals, civil society organisation leaders and patient advocacy group representatives from nine EU Member States: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
How can consumer rights education be effectively promoted in schools? To contribute to this debate, Cittadinanzattiva is implementing the Co.Re – Consumer Regeneration project, in collaboration with InfoCons and the Union of Working Consumers of Greece (EEKE), and co-funded by the European Commission.
The EU Single Market still shows a significant imbalance in the relationship between consumers and businesses. Many consumers have limited awareness of their rights, complaint culture is not yet well established, and unfair commercial practices continue to spread both online and offline. Young people are among those most exposed to these practices, particularly in the digital environment.
Missed our European Parliament event on 4 December on the FACILITATE project? Catch the essence in a smart video recap. Journalist Mariam Zaidi distils why returning Individual Participant Data (RoIPD) matters and how the FACILITATE Principles turn ethics and law into day-to-day practice-planned from the start, respectful of participants, and workable in real life. Presented at the policy dialogue hosted by MEP Andriukaitis and organized by Active Citizenship Network - “Returning Individual Participant Data in Clinical Trials ‘by Design’: Setting a new standard for Patients’ Rights in Europe - the Principles offer a common language and practical checklist to help sponsors, researchers, ethics committees, regulators, and patient groups make RoIPD feasible, meaningful, and routine. Watch the video summary HERE. Prefer the full story? Full recording HERE
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