My name is Károly Illy, and I am EFA’s new president. I am based in the Netherlands, where I work as CEO of Longfonds, a longstanding EFA-member organisation.  I am both proud and humbled to have been elected by EFA-members, and I am honoured to serve our community, on the outstanding work of our previous president Marcia Podestà.

At our AGM and Community meeting in Malta in late March, we celebrated 35 years of EFA, a foundation, a community, built over time through commitment and collaboration. We celebrated each member association because EFA is its members, and the patients they represent. This is what drives us.

We also had the honour of welcoming the Maltese Minister for Health and Active Ageing, Dr. Jo Etienne Abela. This was an important opportunity to highlight the value of engaging every European country to work with EFA and its national members on the implementation of the World Health Assembly resolutions on integrated lung care and skin diseases as public health priority. These efforts are essential to removing barriers and closing gaps in care and prevention that prevent patients, carers and societies from living well with, and prevent, allergies, asthma and COPD.  

I look forward to continuing the work on EFA’s priorities for people living with allergies, asthma and COPD and building strong partnerships to achieve our goals. This includes advocating for stronger prevention, earlier diagnosis and fair access to treatments and medicines that patients rely on. It also means ensuring patient experience and expertise in care, research and policy in Europe.

Warm regards,

Károly Illy,
EFA President

Two great days in Malta for EFA’s AGM and Community Meeting! 31 member organisations from 21 countries came together to reconnect, share experiences and push our shared work for people living with allergies, asthma and COPD. We opened with the Atopical Lives photo exhibition, which travelled to Malta and brought atopic eczema patients’ lived experiences into the heart of the meeting as part of the Atopic Eczema #BreakTheInvisibleBurden campaign. We were also honoured to welcome Malta’s Minister for Health and Active Ageing, Dr Jo Etienne Abela. He spoke about prevention, clean air and tobacco control, and his learning on our disease areas impact for patients. He also referred to the international developments about the World Health Assembly Resolutions on Skin Diseases as Public Health Priority and Integrated Lung Care in response to EFA President Marcia Podesta’s pledge to see Malta spearheading their implementation. The event was also covered by local media.  

Members then joined dedicated sessions on communications and mental health and an interactive Jenga workshop on what sustained, meaningful and transparent cooperation takes between EFA members and our sustainable corporate partners.

We also marked an important transition and warmly thanked Marcia Podestà for her leadership and years of hearty service to EFA and our community as a board member, Vice President and President.

Congratulations to our new Board leadership: Károly Illy (President), Simone Miles (Vice President) and Dr Georg Kneer (Board member), with continued Board members Anna Andrałojć and Fríða Rún Þórðardóttir. And a big welcome to our newest members: Asma y Alergia España (Spain), PHURDA (Ukraine) and Allergy Compass (Slovenia)!

A special thank you to our Community Committee and host members from the Malta Eczema Society for supporting us in the preparation for this event!

EMA has updated the EU Union list of critical medicines for 2026, which helps authorities prioritise medicines to prevent shortages and protect patients. EFA welcomed that the update reflects some feedback and shows progress. However, many essential medicines used every day by people living with allergy, asthma, COPD and atopic eczema are still not included, despite recurring access problems reported by patients across Europe. EFA will keep working with members to bring patient evidence into the next revision and strengthen the visibility of our community’s needs.

Medicines are assessed on quality, safety and efficacy, but patients and carers actually know what treatment is like in real life. This is what patient experience data aims to capture, including symptoms, side effects, quality of life and treatment burden, as usable evidence in medicine development and review. EFA responded to EMA’s consultation on its draft Reflection Paper with three clear priorities: make participation easier to understand, improve how data is collected and used across the medicine lifecycle and remove practical barriers that stop patients from engaging.

As a project partner in the EU-funded SynAir-G project, EFA contributed to the IDEAL Cluster’s second joint policy brief, “When Children Breathe: the Impact of Indoor Air Quality on Children’s Health.” The brief shifts attention from outdoor pollution to indoor air, since children spend up to 90% of their time indoors at home, in daycare and at school. Based on evidence from seven Horizon Europe projects, it highlights common indoor air challenges, gaps in awareness and the need for practical guidance and education to improve indoor environments.

EFA contributed to the European Commission’s consultation shaping a new EU framework on climate resilience and risk management. Europe is warming faster than the global average, bringing more heatwaves, floods and storms, and worsening risks like air pollution. For people living with allergies, asthma and COPD, this can mean more symptom triggers, disrupted daily life and higher health risks. EFA calls for a civil protection approach that prioritises vulnerable groups, climate-smart urban planning that avoids allergenic greening and meaningful involvement of affected communities in designing and reviewing resilience measures.