14 November 2023 | 16:30 – 18:00
Room ASP 5G305 | European Parliament, Brussels
On 14 November, Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network organized, at the European Parliament in Brussels, the in-person conference"Prioritizing care for high-risk COVID-19 patients in the EU: policy recommendations", kindly hosted by MEP Brando Benifei (S&D) with the support of the MEPs Interest Group "European Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare".
On 14 November, Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network is organizing the in-person conference"Prioritizing care for high-risk COVID-19 patients in the EU: policy recommendations", kindly hosted by MEP Brando Benifei (S&D) with the support of the MEPs Interest Group "European Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare", that will be held at the European Parliament in Brussels, from 16:30 to 18:00 CET, in room ASP 5G305.
Introduction
In March 2020 the world experienced the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, and three years on, its variants are still active on a global scale. The pandemic, in addition to bringing catastrophic numbers of cases and deaths, highlighted the fragility of European healthcare systems and visualised the lack of adequate investment in public health and pandemic preparedness overall.
To support Member States in responding to the pandemic, European policymakers put in place COVID-19 measures, including the vaccine strategy and a joint EU pandemic response mechanism for the entire population of the EU and supported Member States in tackling the then-unknown pandemic. Since then, a clear deprioritisation of the undertaken actions to fight the pandemic has been driven at national and European levels as vaccination strategies, free screenings, updated and accessible COVID-19 data and public awareness of the accessible and existent treatments for COVID-19 have been left aside. Yet, it is worth noticing that the pandemic still exists, and remains deadly, especially for patients who are at a higher risk as they can suffer from severe conditions such as chronic, respiratory, cardiovascular, oncological or any other form of the disease.
Aim of the conference
The conference allowed us to put further emphasis on achieving optimal care for Covid-19 high-risk patients. During the panel discussion, participants exchanged views on how to support national and European policy makers in improving the current fragmentation for high-risk patients affected by Covid-19, as well as the establishment of effective surveillance and response systems. To address these challenges, a set of "Recommendations on Pathways for Patients with Covid-19," developed by PAGs and independent experts, was presented.
The Recommendations
Through these recommendations, we aim to expose the current challenges and barriers related to COVID-19 for high-risk groups and pave the way to improve patient care pathways. The goal of the Recommendations is to support policymakers in working towards ensuring that patients have their medical needs met - while promoting better education among healthcare professionals and reinforcing the need for further building national healthcare systems preparedness.
To read the event programme, the speeches and download the presentations, click here
To download the speakers' list, click here
To watch the photo gallery on the Active Citizenship Network’s LinkedIn page, click here
Watch the video interviews realized by the journalist Mariam Zaidi on the occasion of the presentation of the Policy recommendations on Covid-19 high-risk patient pathways in the EU
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