Tools to use the EPF Campaign for the 2014 EU Elections

We are now at the stage when we take the next step of our campaign entitled “Patients + Participation = Our Vote For a Healthier Europe” ahead of the 2014 European elections. We just released our guidance to help patients’ organisation to cascade our messages and background papers for policy-makers to hopefully galvanise a high level of support among them.

Our Campaign guide aims to offer a framework with advice and core material to our members and patients’ organisations to prepare the period ahead of the elections. We kept our campaign deliberately very general to ensure patient groups can adapt it to their unique needs to make the most of the 2014 EU Elections.

The background papers provide further details to our Manifesto. They enrich the content with more information about our position, the figures and concrete cases we have, as well as an explanation of our key asks. These are living documents that will be regularly enriched with concrete facts.

Patient advocacy at EU level is crucial to drive positive change for patients. The elections next year will provide an opportunity for candidates to hear and listen to the patients’ voice and include this when they set the priorities for the new parliamentary session.

We represent a high proportion of voters for the next EU elections as we are supported by our 61 members, themselves representing an estimated 150 million people with chronic disease. We hope our voice will be heard by decision-makers and that they will add a patients’ perspective in their work.

When we will cast our ballot, we will therefore be confident and feel good about voting for a healthier Europe where patients are seen as a part of the solution for high-quality, sustainable and cost-effective healthcare.

For more information, please visit our section about the campaign or contact our Communication Officer, Cynthia Bonsignore, at cynthia.bonsignore[at]eu-patient.eu.