Economist Impact, of which Active Citizenship Network is an Expert Panel member, has produced a video as a follow-up of the country-level pandemic response toolkit and report. The pandemic has reshaped the world in many ways. Now organisations, governments, international agencies and the scientific community are trying to understand what could have been done differently and what we should do to prevent this from happening again. In this framework, the video wants to act as a guided tour to support further dissemination and encourage people to use the toolkit, designed to work across a range of different countries and adaptable to suit an individual country’s needs and priorities. The video is now live on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Active Citizenship Network has recently formalized an official partnership with the Azorean Diabetic Association of St Michael and Sta Maria, a non-profit institution aimed in combating and supporting the treatment of diabetes, and promoting training, prevention and scientific research in the field of diabetes. Active Citizenship Network and the Diabetic Association of St Michael and Sta Maria have agreed to collaborate at the EU level to raise awareness on the needs surrounding patient care and patients’ quality of life, focusing on patients suffering from chronic diseases, and to accelerate the participation of patients in European public policies, activities, and dialogues to foster research and development on patients’ rights.
Active Citizenship Network is glad to announce that a Memorandum of Understanding has been recently formalized with Together for Life (TFL), an Albanian nongovernmental and not-for-profit organization aiming at the development and empowerment of people, the protection of health rights, and the building of civil society at the national level, with a particular focus on vulnerable communities, including communities living in remote or economically less advantaged areas, women and youth.
As Member of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, Active Citizenship Network will join its next General Assembly that will take place online on 24 May 2022. In the past days the forum has launched an anti-war initiatives of Forum members and partners. For further information please consult their website.
Cittadinanzattiva through its EU branch Active Citizenship Network is involved in the European Project NUDGE (NUDging consumers towards enerGy Efficiency through behavioral science) and related to this we will participate in the call to host Sustainable Energy Days that is now open. Taking place between June and September this year, Sustainable Energy Days bring the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) 2022 to the heart of local communities, showing citizens how they can join the clean energy transition. Events can take place online or physically, anywhere around the world, as long as its focus is on renewable energy or energy efficiency. From awareness-raising to public discussions, workshops, and debates, organizers are encouraged to get creative with the format of their event and aim for an interactive approach: inspire audiences to play an active role in the promotion of renewable energy.
Cittadinanzattiva is engaged in a project to promote at the European level the importance of access to advanced therapies by the highest possible number of patients in the light of the fact that by 2030 there could be as many as 60 advanced therapies that could change the life of 350 thousand patients, but to do this, the accounting system must be changed.
To raise awareness of this need, which is at the same time a great opportunity, Cittadinanzattiva, thanks to its EU branch Active Citizenship Network, will organize the following events: a training webinar, a call to action aimed at European decision-makers, and a policy dialogue with the EU Institutions and the involvement of the key stakeholders.
The general objective is to promote the importance of advanced therapies bringing the issue of access to the attention of the patient and civic associations and create consensus regarding the "Italian solution", that is, the fact of accounting for expenditure as a multi-year investment and not as a current expenditure (like a drug that runs out of results in the very short term). Stimulating widespread awareness of the rights to personalized treatments, innovation, and access. Promoting empowerment on the issue of advanced therapies. Strengthening, on the subject, the coalition between Patient and Citizen Associations in Italy and Europe. For further information consult the LinkedIn page or the project webpages (EN – IT versions).
Within the framework of the #VaccinAction2022 EU project, Active Citizenship Network on the 29th of April 2022 has organized the seminar titled “Adult Vaccination: build the capacity and capabilities of civil society”. It has consisted of a 2-hour training seminar which has been realized during the “European Immunization Week 2022”, open to leaders of civic and patient associations from different countries in order to respond to the need to be more updated and prepared to support and protect the value, in particular, of adult immunization and its related benefit. Please download key speakers’ speeches here and watch the entire webinar on Youtube.
The new manuscript drafted by Active Citizenship and titled “Addressing the Challenges of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Routine Vaccinations across Europe: Focus on Flu Vaccination” has been recently published on the peer-review International Journal of Virology & Infectious Diseases. The article shows the main results of the two recent surveys carried out at the EU level by Active Citizenship Network, both realized in the Eu Project entitled “Protecting the value of vaccination during - and after - the COVID-19 pandemic across Europe: impact, experiences and perspectives from citizens’ and patients’ advocacy groups & relevant stakeholders”- #VaccinAction2021.
In line with its multi annual commitment on CVDs prevention and in continuity with our recent EU project “EU PAGs & citizens together in the fight against stroke”, Active Citizenship Network is glad to support the European Stroke Awareness Day, planned next 10 May, and the related initiatives to its knowledge partner Stroke Alliance for Europe – SAFE.
DRIVE-Development of Robust and Innovative Vaccine Effectiveness is an Innovative Medicines Initiative focus on vaccination. A multistakeholder approach in health-related studies is an upward trend. Patient groups' engagement and involvement have particularly become important in vaccine research not only to ensure equity, accountability, and transparency but also to develop partnerships and networks and to include their perspective and need in the analysis. Active Citizenship Network (ACN) - as DRIVE patient collaborator representative - answered some key questions on the impact of Covid-19 in their work and the importance of their involvement in a project such as DRIVE.