EFA

🇪🇺SynAir-G is one of the seven projects within the EU-funded IDEAL Cluster initiative addressing the health impact of indoor air pollution. The Synair-G project aims at better understanding air quality and developing solutions to protect high susceptible populations, such as people with asthma and other respiratory conditions. By combining science, data, and real patients experiences, it helps improve how we monitor air quality and respond to it. A key focus? Schools and children👧🧒👦 Because kids are among the most vulnerable to air pollution, SynAir-G helps create safer, healthier learning environments where they can breathe and thrive! 🗣️The workshop series aims to present and discuss the latest achievements of the SynAir-G project and raise awareness about the importance of improving indoor air quality and creating safer, healthier environments for children. In this episode, we explore how data can transform indoor quality research and shape health and policy. The episode will highlight: • Innovative solutions and AI in data management • New insights into the heath impact by integrating the available data • The role of patients and real-world data 🗓️Monday 8 June ⏰14:00-16:00 CET 📍 Residence Palace, Brussels (in person) or on Zoom (online) 👉Register now on efanet.org

🫂From Brussels To Malta, the Atopical Lives photo exhibition continued its journey with the #EFACommunity at our Annual General Meeting and Community Meeting. This year, 31 member organisations from 21 countries came together to reconnect, learn from one another and keep advocating for better prevention, care and quality of life for people living with allergies, asthma, COPD and atopic eczema. 🖼️ Through powerful portraits and personal stories, the Atopical Lives highlighted the invisible burden of atopic eczema as part of the #BreakTheInvisibleBurden campaign. Because Atopic Eczema is more than a skin condition. It affects sleep, confidence, relationships, daily life and mental wellbeing. 🧠 During #EuropeanMentalHealthWeek we want to remind everyone that the emotional and social impact of chronic conditions deserves to be seen, heard and taken seriously too! On Atopic Eczema our ask is clear: 💭”Improve access to care and treatment, reduce the financial burden and take the mental and social burden seriously” - Marcia Podestà, EFA president. 🫶🏻A big thank you to @maltaeczemasociety and everyone who made this year’s meeting and exhibition possible! #atopiceczema #mentalhealthweek

Sometimes, even hugging your child hurts. 👉 That’s the reality of #AtopicEczema, a disease that doesn’t just live on the skin. It steals sleep, strains relationships, strips away dignity, and silently hollows out everyday life. 🧠 The mental health toll is staggering: • 20% increased risk of depression • 66% of adolescents report withdrawing from social life • Constant stigmatisation, isolation, and sleepless nights push patients towards anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and despair. ❤️‍🩹This European #MentalHealthWeek, we recognise not just the burden, but the extraordinary resilience of the 20 millions Europeans and their loved ones carrying it, often without adequate support from the health system meant to help them. 🙅‍♀️It’s time to #BreakTheInvisibleBurden of atopic eczema!

Today is #WorldAsthmaDay. #EFACommunity stands with asthma patients across Europe. 🫂 👉🏻 We want people with asthma to feel more #EmpoweredToBreathe, with the right knowledge, tools and support to understand their condition, manage it with confidence and live well. 📢Across our community, patients are speaking up for better diagnosis, effective treatment, practical information, support for self-management and a strong voice for patients. 🫁Are you looking for reliable into #AboutAsthma ? EFA gathered resources from across the community in one place. On AboutAsthma.org/resources, you can find useful info in the form of apps, brochures, asthma action plans and multimedia content! The resources come from patient organisations across Europe and are available in different languages. 📌Explore the resources and take control of your asthma today!

🫁In the lead up to #WorldAsthmaDay, @ginasthma emphasises the need for people with asthma to have access to anti-inflammatory inhalers, under the theme “Access to anti-inflammatory inhalers for everyone with asthma - still an urgent need” 📌Everyone deserves appropriate treatment, information and the right tools to manage their asthma. Improved access to the right treatment, better understanding of the conditions and better diagnosis would allow patients to manage asthma with confidence, leading to better quality of life. #AboutAsthma #asthma #patients #healthcareprofessionals

"I wanted to be treated as a person, not as a collection of symptoms" Atopic eczema is way more than a skin rash, it's, in the words of a patient "a disease that steals sleep, work, relationships and dignity, it silently eats away the life". It's a complex disease and a heavy, invisible burden on patients' shoulders. As such, it requires a holistic, multidisciplinary approach. Earlier this year we launched with our #EFACommunity a new Europe-wide advocacy campaign to #BreakTheInvisibleBurden of atopic eczema by: 🧠 Addressing the mental and social burden 🏥 Ensuring access to multidisciplinary care and treatment 💰 Tackling the financial burden Despite this burden, atopic eczema is misunderstood, sidelined, and under-recognised in EU health policy. To break the burden, we need: ✔️ Integrate atopic eczema into the next EU NCD Initiative “Healthier Together” after 2027 so skin diseases are part of EU health priorities. ✔️Establish an EU Joint Action on atopic eczema to align efforts across Member States, set shared goals, and accelerate collaboration and research. ✔️Generate EU-wide evidence for policymaking, including the mental and social burden, awareness gaps and misinformation, and differences in reimbursement across Member States. The campaign launch was supported by a wide range of stakeholders: 🔹 Patients and patient organisations from across Europe @drustvoad (Slovenia), @asso_eczema (France), @zavod_atopika (Slovenia) @allergiaihojaastmaliitto (Finland) @alergija.i.ja (Serbia) @somosaepnaa , @alerjiileyasamdernegi (Turkey) @Österreichische Lungen-Union (Austria), 🔹 Healthcare professionals represented by @eadv_ @eadv_president Branka Marinović 🔹 Members of the European Parliament, MEPs @metztilly and @aurelijus.veryga Thank you all for the support, this is what we need, a joint effort to #BreakTheInvisibleBurden and achieve policy change for real improvements in the lives of #atopiceczema patients. Thanks to @lurdesbasoli for curating and presenting the photo exhibition. 📸Credit: © Elio Germani 2026

“My deepest thanks to the patients who opened their homes to me and their hearts to us.” ❤️‍🩹 Curator Lurdes R. Basolí on the journey of #AtopicalLives on display at the European Parliament this week. Hosted by MEP @prlaurentcastillo Portraits from #EFAcommunity captured since 2018 with patients and carers sharing what has changed since. 📖 🗣️ Martina Piskar (Slovenia): “Every touch and every movement hurts, but the heart hurts the most.” Her ask: treat people, not just symptoms with coordinated, multidisciplinary care. 🗣️ Hesna Beril Yazici (Turkey): “I learned about eczema before I learned to read and write.” This is a reminder of how early this starts and what it means when treatment finally works. 🗣️ Paco Rello Salcedo (Spain): Showering felt unbearable. He avoided mirrors 🪞, people and shared that he is much better now than in the portrait. 🗣️ Olga Bekova (Czech Republic): A stressful, hopeless time when Theo, her son, was sick and the wider atopic journey: even when skin improves, breathing can worsen and the risk of #asthma can follow. 🫁 🗣️ Jana Zeizingerova (Czech Republic): “I can sleep through the night and live with fewer fears.” 😴 🗣️ Marjolaine Hering (France) explained how challenging it was juggling life and eczema: “I managed to reconnect with dancing. It was the space where I could breathe and feel myself again.” 💃 These testimonies are a clear policy signal: the burden is heavy and outcomes change when the right care is accessible. Europe needs earlier diagnosis, multidisciplinary care pathways, mental health support and equitable access to effective treatment to #BreakTheInvisibleBurden of atopic eczema! 📸 Credit: © Elio Germani 2026

How can Europe #BreakTheInvisibleBurden of atopic eczema? That was the key question at this week’s European Parliament policy roundtable with MEPs, patients, clinicians and WHO. The burden of atopic eczema is real and the political response needs to be organised. 🌐 Now the global momentum is shifting. Dr Kingsley Asiedu (@who ): a Global Action Plan on skin diseases is being drafted, with a public consultation ahead. The WHA resolution also changes the game as countries will be required to report on skin diseases. Host MEP @prlaurentcastillo : three pressure points EU policy can’t ignore ➡️ mental health, access to care and access to medicines (costs up to €1,300/month in France). MEP @metztilly : a double battle ➡️ physical and mental plus the burden of explaining “how bad it can be”. EU value-add: 📊 comparable data, ⚖️ equity, 🌡️ prevention that takes environmental risks seriously. MEP @aurelijus.veryga on stigma: children avoiding a classmate because they think eczema is contagious and the isolation that follows. Europe has the tools. Now it needs coordinated action and investment that reaches patients to hashtag#BreakTheInvisibleBurden ❗ 📸 Credit: © Elio Germani 2026

This week, the European Parliament opens its doors to #AtopicalLives. An immersive exhibition built from real atopic eczema patient stories. Everyday life is on the walls: routines, relationships, school and work, and the mental load that rarely reaches policy conversations. These portraits and testimonies call on Europe to #BreakTheInvisibleBurden with policies that reach patients in real life. Host MEP @prlaurentcastillo : “Eczema is not a cosmetic problem. It’s very important to hear the patient experience and identify where gaps in care show up first." EFA Treasurer Simone Miles: “Healthcare is about people.” A chronic condition can quietly take over everyday life: sleep, school, work, family finances and wellbeing. Europe has the direction and the tools and its time to #BreakTheInvisibleBurden with a strong policy." Prof. @eadv_president Branca Marinović on stigma: visible skin conditions can be isolating and deeply stigmatising. Europe needs consistent awareness, respect and timely, high-quality care across countries. @eadv_ And behind every portrait is trust. Curator @lurdesbasoli shared how personal this journey has been and thanked the patients and families who opened their homes and their hearts. 🫶 #EFACommunity 📸 Credit: © Elio Germani 2026

LAST CALL to register ‼️ 📢 Atopic Eczema: #BreakTheInvisibleBurden – campaign launch & exhibition at the European Parliament On 13 January 2026, we bring the reality of atopic eczema into the heart of EU decision-making with a new Europe-wide advocacy campaign and immersive exhibition. It’s time to #BreakTheInvisibleBurden! 🔴 Registrations close tomorrow afternoon! (Link in bio)

Atopic Eczema: #BreakTheInvisibleBurden – campaign launch and photo exhibition at the European Parliament on 13 Jan 2026. Atopic eczema is not “just a skin problem”. It is a chronic disease that keeps people itching, awake and anxious, and puts pressure on work, school and family life. With #BreakTheInvisibleBurden, patient organisations, MEPs and health professionals turn these stories into clear asks: earlier diagnosis, better coordinated care, mental health support and fair access to effective treatment across Europe. Hosted by MEP @prlaurentcastillo (EPP, France) and brings together MEP @metztilly (Greens, Luxembourg), MEP @aurelijus.veryga (ECR, Lithuania), EFA President Marcia Podestà, @eadv_ President Prof. Branka Marinović @eadv_president , patients and healthcare professionals for a cross-party conversation on what needs to change. On site, you can explore “Atopical Lives”, an immersive journey into life with atopic eczema. Curated by @lurdesbasoli . 📍 European Parliament, Brussels (JAN 3Q and room 6Q1) 🖇REGISTER via the link in bio Join us and help Europe #BreakTheInvisibleBurden.

📢 EFA’s new Travel with Oxygen toolkit is out: your step-by-step guide to travelling with oxygen safely and confidently across Europe. 🎉📘✈️ Travelling with oxygen shouldn’t be a burden, but for #COPD patients who rely on oxygen, it’s an overwhelming maze of paperwork, complex procedures and unclear information. On #WorldCOPDDay, we want to help change this and we are delighted to launch the Travel with Oxygen Toolkit, developed with our COPD Community to simplify travel for patients using medical oxygen across Europe. The toolkit includes: ✅ Step-by-step travel planning checklists ✅ Template letters for patients to request support ✅ A network of national contact points in EFA member organisations to support patients before and during their travel ✅ Practical information on transport and oxygen supply ✅ Links to country-specific information Because travel shouldn’t stop where medical complexity begins. 🌬️✨✈️ @daab_allergien @assoc_respiriamo_insieme @longfonds @fenaerpacientes Explore more in the link in bio