Projects
Activities
The European Institute of Women’s Health (EIWH) works at EU, national, regional and local level to promote equity in womens and family health and improve the abilitry of citizens to improve their uptake and control of their own health issues. The EIWH creates awareness of women’s health issues through its reports, position papers and submissions in response to EU Commission and other consultation processes. The EIWH consults with its extensive network on a regular basis and issues information, news and other forms of publication about it’s activities periodically throughout the year.
EIWH Consultations
The European Institute of Women’s Health responds to European Commission consultations to help shape European policy and set the agenda in women’s health.
Gender and Chronic Disease Factsheet/Policy Briefing Series
Chronic disease is the leading cause of illness and death in the EU. As a result, these diseases heavily burden EU citizens and their healthcare systems. With ageing populations and changes in lifestyle, chronic disease will increasingly affect the EU and its citizenry in the future. Chronic disease does not have the same effects on all individuals. Gender largely impacts susceptibility, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease. As a result, it is imperative that people across the EU are aware of how gendered exposures and vulnerabilities influence chronic disease. The impact of gender on chronic disease has been understudied and under-discussed throughout the EU. The European Institute of Women’s Health will generate bi-monthly policy briefings—factsheets—on a variety of chronic diseases beginning in April 2012. These two- to three-page policy briefings will be succinct and in basic English to raise health literacy levels and increase awareness at national and EU levels. The policy briefings will describe how gender impacts various chronic diseases and include policy recommendations in order to educate policymakers, stakeholders, and EU citizens. The EIWH aims to generate, publish, and distribute twenty-five (25) briefings in the next 12 months. Chronic diseases include but are not limited to cardiovascular disease, diabetes cancer, respiratory disease, autoimmune disease (such as Lupus), arthritis, musculoskeletal and osteoporosis specifically.
Gender and Chronic Disease Factsheet/Policy Briefing Series
Cancom Project
The Cancom Project is an initiative that addresses the information needs of women. When the project initiated in 1996 by the European Institute of Women’s Health, women were minority users of information technology, particularly the Internet. Cancom provides women with high quality information that has been used since it went online in 1998. The project also creates an Internet experience for women on two floppy discs that contained the project information and a specially developed version of a browser. Some 600 packs were distributed and women’s groups held over sixty public health information days using the pack and printouts from Cancom. A separate project report analysed the ways in which different groups of women obtained, used and managed information. Cancom is a cost effective way of providing good, high value information to people.
ENGENDER Project
The European Institute of Women’s Health is a partner in the ENGENDER Project and will be responsible for the ongoing development after the project closes. The ENGENDER Project is a co-funded project by the European Commission, DG Health. The Project has partners in 9 EU countries and contributors in 20 EU states. The project provides information in the form of policy briefings on models that interest to policymakers and other key stakeholders trying to identify good policy models and support information to ensure the development of good gender policies for all citizens. The ENGENDER website currently has over 560 information files on gender related actions and activity.
iSAC6+ Project
The European Institute of Women’s Health is participating in iSAC Project, an European Commission co-funded project as a partner. This project is about mobilising information to all citizens. This will impact by its potential to increase the value from e-government actions. It started September 2009. iSAC is an on-line SAC that has been designed following a citizen-centred, citizen-inclusive and communitycentred approach. Its mission is to attend to citizens´ demands on-line, by retrieving and managing information from existing databases. It aims: to improve the efficiency and capacity of responses from local SACs; to reduce the time, money, stress, administrative burdens and other resources invested by both citizens and companies, especially SMEs, in trying to find information about their local administration; to work towards a Single European Information Society for all, by installing a common on-line citizens´ attention and information service in a range of different scenarios and different SAC across the European Union.
EU Facts and Figures Health Project
The European Institute of Women’s Health is compiling facts and figures on health statistics disaggregated by gender across the EU by country.
VALUE+ Project
The European Institute of Women’s Health are participating in VALUE+ Project, an European Commission co-funded project as a partner. VALUE+ is an European Commission, DG Health supported project to improve the involvement of patient associations in health-related European studies and research. There has been a shift in health policy priorities towards considering a broad spectrum of citizen and patient needs. There needs to be open, transparent and cooperative health systems, promoting participation and encouraging involvement of patients whenever possible and must form an essential part of all change processes in healthcare systems.
ENABLE Project
The European Institute of Women’s Health participated as a sub contractor in ENABLE , an EU co-funded project. Intended as a wearable system to support services to “enable” elderly people to live independently. ENABLE was expected to develop a personal, user-centered support system with services both in or out of their home, reducing the effects of any disability while increasing their quality of life: independence, mobility and communication particularly by improving their levels of care and safety.
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European Partnership for Action Against Cancer
The European Commission launched the Cancer Partnership in September 2009 to invigorate Europe’s fight against cancer. The European Institute of Women’s Health is a collaborating partner in the European Partnership Action against Cancer focusing specifically on women´s cancers in the work packages for prevention and screening. With more than three million new cases and 1.7 million deaths each year, cancer is the second biggest cause of death in Europe. One third of cancer cases could be prevented. The European Cancer Partnership has set a target to reduce new cancer cases by 15% by 2020. To this end, the Partnership brings together key cancer stakeholders from Member States and the EU to step up the fight against cancer.
European Medicines Agency
The European Institute of Women’s Health participates in the European Medicines Agency (EMA) activities. As an EMA eligible organisation, the EIWH interacts with the Agency through different working groups to provide gender/patient perspectives. Pharmacovigilance is an important issue in which the EIWH is involved. Women take more medicines than men and even adjusting for this, they experience more side effects. The reasons are unexplored and the EIWH hopes that self-reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) will shed some light on this. Pregnant women are especially at risk, as they are often excluded from clinical trials while in real life they sometimes have to take medicines.
EY2012 Age Coalition
The EU has declared 2012 as the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. EY2012 will serve as a framework for raising awareness, identifying and disseminating good practice and encouraging policy makers and stakeholders to promote active ageing. The European Institute of Women’s Health is a member of the EY2012 Coalition and will undertake several initiatives to highlight women’s specific health concerns during the year.
EY2012 Manifesto for an Age-Friendly EU
On 7 November 2011, the European Parliament Intergroup on Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity and the EY2012 Coalition of stakeholders launched the Manifesto for an Age-Friendly European Union to encourage stakeholders to collaborate at the EU and national levels in order to promote active ageing and solidarity between generations. The European Institute of Women’s Health is signatory of the Manifesto and will be working to help achieve its goals.
Revision of the Clinical Trials Directive
The European Institute of Women’s Health is looking forward to becoming actively engaged in the revision of the Clinical Trials Directive (CTD). The EIWH sees this as an opportunity to incorporate lessons learned from the past, but also to take a hard look at how to make this Directive fit for purpose for the research environment over the next decades. The Institute’s particular interest is that the Directive enables and supports the drive for “personalised medicines” for patients of all ages of women, men and children. The EIWH is focused on two very specific issues:
1) women in clinical trials and
2) older people and clinical trials.
Clinical Trials Directive Link
European Charter for Health Equity
The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) launched the European Charter for Health Equity on 9 December 2010. The Charter can be signed until the end of 2011. There are large differences in the health status of individuals throughout Europe, both within and between the nations. Economic and political stresses are particularly burdening the socially deprived, most vulnerable and under-served population groups. The European Charter for Health Equity calls on civil society to speed up and collaborate in multi-sectorial actions on Health Inequalities. The European Institute of Women’s Health signed the Charter and works to achieve its goals.
European Charter for Health Equity Website
European Public Health Alliance Policy Committee
The European Institute of Women’s Health serves on the EPHA’s Policy Committee.
ECDC Partner in Antibiotics Awareness Day
The European Institute of Women’s Health participated as a partner in the European Centre for Disease Control’s Antibiotics Awareness Day.
ECDC Antibiotics Awareness Day Website
IOF Osteoporosis Advisory Panel
The European Institute of Women’s Health serves on the IOF Advisory Panel.
European Patients’ Forum Advisory Committee
The European Institute of Women’s Health serves on the EPF advisory committee.
Mental Health Europe’s Violence Against Women Committee
The European Institute of Women’s Health serves on the Mental Health Europe’s Violence Against Women Committee.
SHE Project Advisory Group
The European Institute of Women’s Health serves on the SHE Project Advisory Group.
Fundamental Rights Agency’s NGO Platform
The European Institute of Women’s Health participates in the FRA NGO Platform.
The Senior Association of S. Miguel, Azores would very much like to develop this year activities regarding this subject; how can we apply for collaboration?
http://aseniores.com.sapo.pt/
http://senioresazoressilver.blogspot.com/