EFA Newsletter December 2025

Welcome to the EFA News

Welcome to EFA News, dear advocates and partners,

This year, we co-created with members tools and a support network for COPD patients travelling with oxygen and got ready to set the base for a forthcoming advocacy tool: the COPD Barometer. We also co-created the first ever European advocacy campaign on atopic eczema, to be launched next year. We brought the World Health Assembly Resolutions on skin diseases and on lung health to the WHO Regional Committee meeting and the importance of thresholds for food allergen labelling to the CODEX Alimentarius Commission meeting.

Through policy workshops with members and involvement in EC agencies and stakeholder groups, the voice of patients with allergy, atopic eczema, asthma and COPD was heard in key policy consultations and meetings on research, HTA and more. We brought lung health to #KeepBreathing through a session to the most important EU policy conference. We launched the first ever European Respiratory Patient Academy to empower patient advocates.

We did all this in collaboration with fellow patient groups, healthcare professionals, public health groups, too many to mention. Through this work, we strive for true change in care, prevention and patient participation for our community.

As the year comes to a close, we are grateful to our EFA Community of members for their commitment and to our partners for their trust, support and cooperation. We wish you a smooth wrap-up, peaceful holidays and a healthy start to 2026. See you in the new year, already at the European Parliament exhibition and launch of the “Atopic Eczema: Break The Invisible Burden” campaign on 13 January!

Warm regards,

Marcia Podestà
EFA President

Care

EFA’s first reading of the EU Health package from an allergy and respiratory patient perspective

On 17 December 2025, the European Commission presented a new EU Health Package. EFA has already engaged on each of the initiatives included, and we see this package as an important moment to reconnect prevention, innovation and access to care with the realities of people living with allergy and respiratory diseases.

EU Safe Hearts Plan

The plan focuses on prevention, early detection, treatment and tobacco control. EFA considers it essential that lung health is fully integrated, as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases often coexist and share the same risk factors such as smoking, vaping, air pollution and respiratory infections.

EU Biotech Act (Part I)

EFA welcomes efforts to support innovation and clinical research in Europe. From a patient perspective, progress will depend on early patient involvement and on ensuring that innovation leads to real and timely access to care, not only faster development.

Medical device rules

The revision aims to simplify procedures and reduce delays. EFA supports simplification where it improves access, while insisting that patient safety and availability of essential devices across Europe must remain central.

We will continue to follow these files closely with our members as they move forward and assess what they mean in practice for people living with allergy and respiratory diseases.

EU moves forward on two major medicines laws with direct impact for patients EFA represents

Two major EU medicines files moved forward this month. The EU Pharmaceutical Package was adopted, updating Europe’s rules on how medicines are authorised and made available. For allergy, atopic eczema and respiratory patients, an important outcome is that patient representatives keep their voting rights in the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), protecting meaningful patient input in regulatory decisions. The Critical Medicines Act also advanced in the European Parliament’s SANT Committee, aiming to reduce shortages across the EU. As a member of the Critical Medicines Alliance, EFA contributed to the work and flagged shortages affecting essential respiratory medicines, including salbutamol.

Prevent

Governments must cut emissions and implement air quality rules to protect lung health – takeaways from the EU Clean Air Forum

EFA joined the 5th EU Clean Air Forum in Bonn representing people with allergy, asthma and COPD in EU air quality debates. Together with the EU Healthy Air Coalition (EUHAC), we reminded that healthy air and access to air quality information are fundamental rights that need to be safeguarded if we want to truly reduce the disease burden. It is crucial to scale up efforts to cut emissions from polluting sectors like agriculture, domestic heating and transport and improve monitoring and public information, including for pollen. EFA now calls for timely, stronger implementation of the EU air quality framework so that allergy and respiratory patients can breathe clean, healthy air.

New EU Affordable Housing Plan misses a key point for respiratory health: indoor air

The European Commission has adopted an EU “Affordable Housing Plan” focused on increasing housing supply and investment. EFA welcomes action on affordability, but the plan pays little attention to health. Poor air inside homes increases risks for people living with allergy, asthma and COPD, and the EU still lacks a framework to address this. Measures such as health-based renovations, safer building materials, effective ventilation and clear information for residents are largely missing. People affected by harmful housing conditions are also not recognised as a vulnerable group. EFA will continue to push for healthy housing to be integrated into future EU initiatives.

Read the full response

Members Community News

Asthma-Allergy Denmark shares new webinar on contact eczema

EFA member Asthma-Allergy Denmark has published a free webinar on contact eczema, explaining what causes the condition, how to recognise symptoms and how it can be prevented. The webinar highlights how everyday exposure to irritants or allergens can trigger skin inflammation, particularly in people with sensitive skin, and why early diagnosis is important to avoid long-term skin problems.

Watch here (in Danish)

Finnish Federation publishes new English mini-guide on asthma

The Finnish Allergy, Skin and Asthma Federation has added a printable English mini-guide on asthma to its guide series. Aimed at people with asthma in Finland who do not speak Finnish or Swedish well, and their families, the two-page guide covers causes and symptoms, examination and treatment, as well as available services and peer support.

Find out more

Respira urges action on COPD in CNN Portugal opinion article

Respira published an opinion piece in CNN Portugal in which President José Albino calls for urgent action on COPD. He highlights the continued lack of timely diagnosis and access to care for thousands of people in Portugal, and urges stronger investment in early diagnosis and universal access to respiratory rehabilitation to reduce hospitalisations and improve the quality of life.