The MEP Interest Group on Brain, Mind, and Pain organised on the 21st of November a new meeting in the EU Parliament hosted by MEP Merja Kyllönen and MEP Marian Harkin, in order to review the achievements of the group and to propose the policy focus areas for 2019. As the representatives of SIP, we were invited to the discussion whose main topic was "The Future of Health in Europe". We presented the Joint Statement on the Societal Impact of Pain, highlighting the recommendations the document contains but also inviting the participants to endorse and use the joint statement as a tool in their organisations' advocacy activities. We are convinced the Joint Statement on SIP is a valuable, to-date collection of policy and good practices in chronic pain which points out to the gaps that need to be addressed by the decision-makers who are responsible for putting health - and pain in particular, on their agenda. If you did not get the chance to read or endorse the SIP Joint Statement and the Framing paper, there is still time to do so, endorsements' period is open until the 25th January 2019. To endorse, send us your logo and confirmation by email to Vittoria Carraro - vittoria.carraro@efic.org or Anca Pop - a.pop@pae-eu.eu. We invite you to consult the documents using the links attached to this article. For further information on events we participate in, and on how to use the JoInt Statement within your organisation, please visit the SIP website www.sip-platform.com or contact us using any of the above-mentioned emails.  Join your name to the 42 organisations that already endorsed the Joint Statement on the Societal Impact of Pain!

SIP Joint Statement presented in the EU Parliament

The MEP Interest Group on Brain, Mind, and Pain organised on the 21st of November a new meeting in the EU Parliament hosted by MEP Merja Kyllönen and …

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Today’s societies are faced with challenges that have an important impact on population health in Europe. On the other hand, there are also new opportunities to improve health and wellbeing of European population. The 11th European Public Health Conference was held in Ljubljana between the 28th of November and the 1st of December 2018 and brought together about 1500 participants from different Health Care institutions and countries. The theme of the 2018 Conference was ‘Winds of change: towards new ways of improving public health in Europe’ where current topics and trends in public health were discussed in many sessions.  We had the opportunity to present "Societal Impact of Pain (SIP) as a Thematic Network of the EU Health Policy platform" as a poster in one of the EPH sessions and to ask for endorsement of the SIP Joint Statement which is still possible until January 25th 2019. 

Presentation of the Societal Impact of Pain (SIP) Thematic N…

Today’s societies are faced with challenges that have an important impact on population health in Europe. On the other hand, there are also new opport…

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On 12 November, the EU Health Policy Platform held its third annual meeting in Brussels. The meeting brought together 150 participants coming from across Europe. Speakers included Thematic Networks leaders as well as high level EC officials including the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), Vytenis Andriukaitis and new DG SANTE Director General Anne Bucher.

EU Health Policy Platform Annual Meeting

On 12 November, the EU Health Policy Platform held its third annual meeting in Brussels. The meeting brought together 150 participants coming from acr…

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On the 25th of October, The French Ministry of health hosted an important event organized by SFETD, supported by the European initiative « Societal impact of Pain » and Grünenthal, reunited approximately 100 participants – comprising patients, health care professionals, policy makers – in order to further think on how to improve the pain patients in their journey through health care pathways, especially for the most vulnerable populations. After debates about wandering, disability, lack of funding… a position paper developed by eleven organizations of medical societies and patient associations was shared with concrete actions to structure the care path of pain patient. Pain French Society and press immediately broadcasted a summary of this call to the politicians to put pain as a society priority. http://www.sfetd-douleur.org/le-plaidoyer-de-la-douleur-forum-du-24-octobre-2018

SIP France mobilized at the French Ministry of Health!

On the 25th of October, The French Ministry of health hosted an important event organized by SFETD, supported by the European initiative « Societ…

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On 25 October 2018, the Societal Impact of Pain (SIP) Steering Committee met in Brussels to review activities and achievements in 2018 in Brussels and also on national Level. During the day representatives of the SIP national platforms from Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain presented their astonishing progress so far, to inspire and support participants from other countries in their own national SIP efforts. Participants also learned about best practices, including the European Civic Prize on Chronic Pain awarded by Active Citizenship Network and the National Brain Councils by the European Brain Council as example of national platform Building. More detailed information can be found on the specific areas for the national SIP platforms and national pain policy activities. Belgium France Malta Spain Portugal Germany

National SIP Advocacy - Achievements 2018

On 25 October 2018, the Societal Impact of Pain (SIP) Steering Committee met in Brussels to review activities and achievements in 2018 in Brussels and…

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Although the EP elections are likely to change the Parliament’s set-up fundamentally, engagement at EU level will continue and continuity will also be provided through the many institutional connections made during SIP’s turn as Thematic Network on the EU Health Policy Platform. Following debates and interactive sessions at the SIP Steering committee, participants agreed that there is a need to investigate new opportunities arising from the changing  EU political landscape. The work in Brussels with the European Commission, focusing especially on research and keeping pain on the agenda, will continue. Once the new European Parliament is elected and settled, outreach to new and old MEPs will also continue. The EU level activity will lay the foundation for national work such as the engagement with the Council Presidencies held by countries that already have a commitment to pain policy.

SIP Strategy for 2019 and Next Steps

Although the EP elections are likely to change the Parliament’s set-up fundamentally, engagement at EU level will continue and continuity will also be…

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The SIP steering committee gave the SIP Partners on October 25th the opportunity to present the work done this year at EU level and discuss with the participants how to best leverage it to build the EU level component of the 2019 strategy. What we have achieved so far? During the SIP Steering Committee, Gudula Petersen, Governmental Affairs & Patient Centricity, Grünenthal highlighted how SIP continued its engagement and strengthened its relations with policy makers in 2018. Anca Pop, EU Public Affairs and Communications and Events Coordinator Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) and Vittoria Carraro, External Relations Manager, European Pain Federation EFIC presented the main EU level project of SIP in 2018. The SIP Joint Statement on the EU Health Policy Platform and called for its endorsement. The upcoming milestone to endorse the Joint Statement is the 12th November 2018, when the SIP partners will present the Joint Statement to the European Commission. Following the presentation, the SIP partners will continue gather endorsement to the initiative and use it to support 2019 engagement activities. Here you can find more information on this Project.

European SIP Advocacy - Achievements 2018

The SIP steering committee gave the SIP Partners on October 25th the opportunity to present the work done this year at EU level and discuss with the p…

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The Thematic Network on SIP held its second webinar dedicated to discuss the ‘The Societal Impact of Pain – our joint challenge to tackle’ on 4 October 2018.

Second Live Webinar with the European Commission on the SIP …

The Thematic Network on SIP held its second webinar dedicated to discuss the ‘The Societal Impact of Pain – our joint challenge to tackle’ on 4 Octobe…

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The IASP World Congress on Pain featured a special session devoted to the advocacy efforts of the IASP and its various regions, which gave us the opportunity to showcase the SIP project. IASP, the sister organisation of EFIC (the IASP European chapters), have a role to play in improving pain medicine globally via political action. One of the most important projects of IASP has been its efforts to push for the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to include ‘chronic primary pain’ as a disease in the next update, ICD-11. Inclusion of chronic primary pain in ICD-11 could lead to a sea-change in which healthcare systems pay more attention to pain, starting with an increase in the reporting of patients with pain as a primary indication. At the session in Boston on the 15th September, IASP and its regions presented their advocacy work and their efforts to push for the implementation of ICD-11. EFIC presented a section of the agenda which focuses on the SIP platform and the SIP partners’ efforts to draw attention to ICD-11. Speakers included Professors’ Bart Morlion and Thomas Tölle who presented the achievements of SIP to date at national and European level and provided example of how SIP has been a vehicle for advocacy of the ICD 11 uptake in Europe. The EFIC leadership was joined by MEP Marian Harkin, a great supporter of the SIP platform and Brain Mind and Pain interest group in the European Parliament. Harkin spoke about the importance of activities like ours in providing policy makers with the much-needed evidence to foster pain policies in a crowded health agenda. Finally, Dr Paul Cameron presented his cutting -edge work on pain classification and service delivery for the Scottish government. The session sparked interest in the SIP methodology beyond Europe as demonstrated by the very lively Q&A session that followed the SIP panel presentation.

EFIC highlight SIP project at 17th World Congress on Pain

The IASP World Congress on Pain featured a special session devoted to the advocacy efforts of the IASP and its various regions, which gave us the oppo…

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  Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, we have had to postpone the meeting til October 4th. We hope to hear from you then. Thank you for your continued Support!

Rescheduled - 2nd Webinar on the SIP Thematic Network on Oct…

  Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, we have had to postpone the meeting til October 4th. We hope to hear from you then. Thank yo…

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