EFA, together with the European Lung Health Group (ELHG), co-signed a statement welcoming the European Union updated Council Recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments. With it, the 27 Member States call on closing protection gaps and expanding restrictions for aerosols and smoke to outdoor public spaces, safeguarding the most vulnerable, especially people with respiratory conditions and children. With the ELHG, we call on EU Member States to implement these recommendations swiftly to protect public health and ensure healthier, smoke-free environments across Europe.

On World COPD Day, EFA together with the European COPD community launched the new 2024 COPD Standards of Care Report, revealing critical gaps in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment across 19 European countries. With COPD affecting 36 million Europeans and costing €38.6 billion annually, EFA calls for urgent policy action to improve care, support patients and ease the growing burden of this disease at European and national levels.

The CCFL meeting was a milestone for #EFACommuity food allergy advocacy, reflecting the global patients’ growing concern over allergen labelling. EFA advocated for science-based, clear allergen labelling standards to prevent life-threatening reactions, reflecting the priorities and needs that with our food allergy patient community we have brought to the Codex public consultations.

Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL) must protect food allergy patients and empower consumers. EFA supports ED05-based reference doses for PAL to ensure clear, evidence-based food labelling that prioritises safety without limiting choice. Our recent statement to Codex calls for harmonised, meaningful standards to end confusion and better protect people with food allergies.

For food allergy patients, unclear Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL) creates daily risks and limits consumer trust. At the CAOBISCO Annual Congress, EFA called for harmonised, legally binding PAL standards based on ED05 reference doses to protect patients while supporting innovation. We look forward to collaborating with stakeholders to advance meaningful, science-based PAL across Europe.

In an age of rapid technological advances and evolving food systems, how can we balance the need for efficiency and transparency in risk assessment while ensuring robust regulation? While supporting innovations in risk assessment EFA insisted on a strong regulatory framework to ensure food safety is never compromised.

Indoor air can be a silent threat to those living with asthma, filled with pollutants that trigger or worsen their condition. The draft EAACI guidelines represent a crucial step toward addressing the impact of indoor air pollution on asthma. EFA highlighted the need to expand the scope of the guidelines by including significant pollutants currently overlooked and the importance of clear guidance on implementing avoidance or reduction strategies.

Subscribe to SynAir-G news! This EU-funded project, where EFA leads communication activities, investigates the combined effects of indoor air pollutants on health, especially in sensitive groups like children with asthma. How? By developing innovative solutions to understand and manage air pollutants. Read the latest updates to learn about the project, upcoming events, and its positive impact across Europe!

Food allergies can turn everyday moments into emergencies. In collaboration with the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA²LEN), #EFACommunity developedc the '10 Practical Priorities to Prevent and Manage Serious Allergic Reactions: Anaphylaxis Manifesto'. This global effort unites patients and healthcare professionals to tackle anaphylaxis with clear, actionable steps.

EFA has responded to EMA’s draft guidelines on inhalation and nasal medicines, ensuring patients’ needs are reflected in quality and safety standards. With new technological developments on these type of medicines, EFA brought the patients' perspectives to the draft guidelines, to communicate how to improve the safety, use and adherence of patients in need of those treatments for a better quality of life.

EFA responded to European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s consultation on their draft policy for handling competing interests of patient experts involved in the work of the agency. While we support a transparent approach, we also warn EMA against excluding patients due to their collaboration with industry. Patient input is essential for medicines to truly reflect real needs, striking the right balance when choosing individual experts would ensure patient expertise improves treatments and improves quality of life.

EFA responded to the European Commission consultation on Joint Scientific Consultations for medical devices and in vitro medical devices, and the involvement of patient experts in this EU joint work. We encourage the Commission to fully embrace the expertise of patient organisations in those topics and to develop onboarding mechanisms for individual experts that respect the volunteer nature of these experts.

In November, EFA joined key stakeholders at the EU Health Policy Platform (EU HPP) annual meeting, held by the European Commission. The hybrid meeting allowed for important discussions on critical health issues, from tackling non-communicable diseases at EU level to advancing digital health. EFA is committed to driving policy change that prioritises prevention and patient-centered innovation in Europe.

The European Environment Agency recently released a new report "Beating chronic respiratory disease: the role of Europe’s environment". Fully in line with EFA's position, the report provides solid evidence on the link between factors such as air pollution, second-hand smoke or allergen pollens and respiratory disease. It confirms that these factors are preventable, but robust policies on improving air quality and reducing exposure are essential to prevent a major share of premature deaths from chronic respiratory disease.

Join us on 4th and 5th February at the European Parliament in Brussels for the "Raising the standards of care for COPD in Europe” event. Following the recent publication of our report on the topic, this event will be an opportunity to discuss with Members of the European Parliament, patients and relevant stakeholders working in the field on the progress and challenges in COPD care and prevention. It will be a time to discuss together how to place COPD at the forefront of health agendas and effectively address it as a crucial healthcare and sustainability issue.

We are pleased to invite you to the 2025 EFA Annual General Meeting and Community Meeting, taking place from 24-26 March 2025 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This year, we are excited to collaborate with our Slovenian member organisation, Društvo Atopijski Dermatitis. The AGM will be available in a hybrid format for those who prefer to attend virtually. More information will follow soon.

When: 24-26 March 2025
Where: Ljubljana, Slovenia