Breathe Vision 2030

On June 29, the MEP Lung Health Group and the MEPs Against Cancer organised a joint policy dialogue to inform aboutthe lessons learnt from the Implementation of Tobacco Products Directive.

To mark World Pulmonary Hypertension Day, on May 5the MEP Lung Health Group organised a virtual event on April 21 to bring to the attention of the European Parliament the needs rising from the complex nature of rare diseases.

To mark World Tuberculosis Day, the MEP Lung Health Group will host an event at the European Parliament on March 24th to discuss the challenges and opportunities arising from COVID-19 and the immunization campaigns, as well astheir impact on TB research and development, prevention, diagnostics, and treatment measures.

We are pleased to share the details of an upcoming MEP lung health group event, ‘Towards a European Health Union – BREATHE Vision for the future’, which will take place virtually on 27 January, 2021 from 10:00–11:15 CET.

September 14 2021 - European Federation of Allergies and Airways Diseases Patients Associations (EFA) on behalf of the European Lung Health Group (ELHG)

This written statement was issued during the 71st session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe on 13-17 September 2021. It can be found under the agenda item "Matters arising from resolutions and decisions of the World Health Assembly and the Executive Board”.

Lung disease is the third cause of death worldwide. However, lung health remains a largely hidden domain of life where people have to live with the often-preventable consequences of other people’s decisions. In Europe, lung disease kills 600,000 people each year, and provokes over 10 million life years lost, numbers that do not take into account deaths and consequences from COVID-19, which is an infection of the respiratory system.

December 21st 2020 - COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the respiratory community. The newly formed European lung health collaboration welcomes the tremendous efforts made in the development of safe vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and celebrates the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval of the first vaccine for COVID-19.

On 8th February the MEP Lung Health group, steered by the European Lung Health Group (ELHG), launched its Policy Brief on the Future of the European Health Data space during its event, ‘Improving lung health through the future European Health Data Space’. 

February 8 2022 – The European Lung Health Group launched its policy briefing on “Improving lung health through the future European Health Data Space (EDHS)”. The brief highlights the opportunities the EDHS brings for patients with lung disease and healthcare providers, with concrete demands to make these benefits a reality.

On 27th January 2021 the European Parliament Lung Health Group hosted the ‘Towards a European Health Union: BREATHE vision for the future’, the digital launch of the Breathe Vision for 2030. The launch event discussed the current context of health in Europe and the five themes in the Breathe Vision for 2030: Awareness, Prevention, Access, Research, and the impact of COVID-19.

This paper aims to create a Breathe Vision for 2030, outlining the changes that lung patients want to see in their lives. The importance of these changes is reflected in the impact that lung health has on our general health.

We all need to breathe. The average European will breathe in and out 20,000 times a day, and the weight and scale of those breaths tells an accurate story of our well-being. Even before COVID-19, lung diseases were some of Europe’s biggest killers, despite most of them being preventable or manageable.