Conference on Medical Nutrition and Prevention for EU Patient Groups - 29 June 2017, Brussels

On 29 June, EPF and EGAN will organise a meeting with ENHA, ONCA and MNI to discuss and explore issues that are of importance to European patient groups with regards to medical nutrition and prevention.

Meeting

The main objective of this meeting is to see how the interest of EU patient groups on the topic of nutrition and prevention has evolved over the last five years. This meeting follows on from a first EU conference with patient groups on nutrition that took place in 2012 in Brussels and a patient representative’s session that took place at the ONCA conference in Madrid last November. The meeting will also aim to update the EU Patient Agenda on Nutrition that was initially discussed at the 2012 EU Patient groups & the relevance of nutrition. Please click here (see pages 79-80) for the Recommendations that resulted from this meeting.

The programme of the day will include an introduction to nutrition and especially medical nutrition. The patient, scientific and physician perspectives will also be presented, alluding to the importance of nutrition, the current challenges and needs as well as the benefits. (See agenda here)

A preconference paper, summarizing the main developments in this area between 2012 and 2017 will be circulated to participants in advance of the event.

Please note that the quarterly EFPIA think tank with EU patient groups will take place the following day, on Friday 30 June.

When and where?

Date: Thursday 29 June 2017, Brussels

Time: 09.30 - 16.00

Who can participate and how?

• Patient group representatives having participated in previous meetings of this nature are invited to take part and will be given priority.
• EPF members who have expertise either personally or as an organisation in the field of medical nutrition are welcome to participate as are patient group representatives that simply want to learn more on the topic of nutrition and prevention, that have something to contribute and would like to get involved in these discussions.
• For practical reasons, the working language of the task force will be English.
• Please also note that there is a limit with regards to the number of participants.

To participate, please send an e-mail to Cees Smit at info@smitvisch.nl, indicating your interest to participate by 30 May 2017 and with a brief explanatory note as to why you want to participate and what your organisation could contribute on this topic.

Please note that several travel grants to attend the workshop are available.

 

More information...

What is Medical Nutrition and why does it matter to Patients?

Nutrition has a key role to play in health and disease and must be a part of any public health strategy. It plays a crucial part throughout the lifecycle, in growth, development and avoiding disease. However, for some, a balanced diet is either not possible or not enough. In these cases, it is possible to improve patient outcomes through Medical Nutrition, both in managing disease-related malnutrition and through managing disease (e.g. metabolic disorders).

For further information on the patient perspective to medical nutrition, please click here to access a book produced by EPF, EGAN and ENHA and published in 2013 entitled ‘Patient Perspectives to Nutrition’.

Who is ENHA and What is ONCA?

The European Nutrition for Health Alliance, is a non-profit association that works with a multi-stakeholder partnership towards improving nutritional care across Europe by actively promoting:

• Implementation of nutrition risk screening across Europe
• Public awareness
• Appropriate reimbursement policies
• Medical education

The Optimal Nutritional Care for All (ONCA) Campaign is a multi-stakeholder initiative to facilitate greater screening for risk of disease-related malnutrition/undernutrition and nutritional care implementation across Europe. ENHA is the driving force behind the campaign which was launched in 2014 and there are 16 countries currently involved in the ONCA campaign.

In 2012, EU patient alliances European Patient Forum (EPF) and European Patient Network on research (EGAN) joined forces with the European Nutrition for Health Alliance (ENHA) to raise awareness of the role that nutrition has to play in managing long term conditions and maintaining optimal health and quality of life for all.

Please click here for the report from the patient representatives’ sessions that took place at the ONCA Conference on 'Optimal Nutritional Care for All' in Madrid last November and here for the complete conference report.

Who is MNI?

MNI is a trade association that was established in 2005, bringing together the major industry representatives of the Medical Nutrition industry. The mission of MNI is to bring together companies that provide products and services to optimize patient outcomes through specialized nutritional solutions.