This year began with an important moment for our community. On 13 January, EFA and its member organisations launched the Europe-wide Atopic Eczema #BreakTheInvisibleBurden campaign at the European Parliament. The launch featured a photo and video exhibition featuring portraits of patients across Europe and a cross-party policy roundtable discussing European policy solutions for atopic eczema following the World Health Assembly resolution adopted in May 2025. Patients and families shared their testimonies at the heart of EU decision making and showed, with honesty and courage, what it means to live with atopic eczema every day and why our campaign asks are urgent and timely. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this launch possible.

This momentum will continue in the weeks ahead. On 26 February, I will take part in a European Parliament discussion organised by the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology on turning global commitments on skin diseases into EU and national action. Stay tuned for highlights!

Warm regards,

Marcia Podestà
EFA President

From January to June 2026, Cyprus chairs the Council of the EU. EFA will engage throughout the Presidency to make allergy and respiratory health visible in the work programme and negotiations. Our priorities include:

• securing stronger EU investment in health in the next Multiannual Financial Framework
• tackling critical medicine shortages affecting respiratory and allergy care
• advancing reforms on medical devices
• moving forward on tobacco and nicotine rules
• accelerating EU-wide action on precautionary allergen labelling (PAL)
• and putting healthy housing on the EU health agenda.

EFA’s European Respiratory Patient Academy brought patient advocates together in Prague for the first immersive training programme co-developed with the Steering Committee of European respiratory patient organisations. The report focuses on the participants and their learning experience, a snapshot of the Academy’s impact and the value of investing in patient knowledge and leadership to strengthen engagement in research, healthcare and policy discussions.

Earlier this month, EFA’s atopic eczema community brought their lived experience into the European Parliament through Atopical Lives — an immersive photo and video exhibition featuring portraits and patient testimonies. Hosted by MEP Laurent Castillo (EPP*, France), the exhibition was followed by a cross-party policy roundtable with MEP Castillo, MEP Tilly Metz (Greens, Luxembourg), MEP Aurelijus Veryga (ECR, Lithuania) and WHO Representative Dr Kingsley Asiedu. Discussions focused on what EU-level action could look like: tackling stigma and mental health impacts, improving data and awareness, supporting multidisciplinary care and reducing uneven access to effective treatments, all this building on the momentum of the 2025 WHA resolution on skin diseases.
*Following the week of the exhibition, MEP Castillo was reported to have left the EPP group

The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) published four new guidelines on the role of urban green spaces in allergy and asthma prevention. The guidance highlights evidence that access to green areas and biodiversity can support both primary and secondary prevention across conditions including allergic rhinitis, atopic eczema and food allergy. The guidelines also reflect the expertise from the EFA Community of patients: Organisation for Respiratory Health in Finland (Hengitysliitto), AEPNAA (Spain), the Bosnian Association of Patients with Asthma, Allergies and Atopic Dermatitis (AAA), Allergy UK contributed to the work, and EFA’s Senior Policy Advisor Panagiotis Chaslaridis is among the co-authors. This shows how patient perspectives can strengthen evidence-based recommendations with real-world relevance.