IF represented at the EPF STYPA!

From Sunday 7th July to Wednesday 10th July 2019 the European Patients’ Forum organised its new edition of the Summer Training for Young Patients’ Advocates (STYPA) and IF had the chance to be well represented: Marcus Ward from our Irish member organisation the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Ireland and IF Communications Coordinator Carmen Clemente were selected to go to Vienna to participate, learn and share.

This year’s topic was focused on discussing and investigating how patient advocacy has evolved and which are the new emerging challenges and opportunities. The whole programme had a transversal strong ethical approach, discussing ethical and moral dilemmas with Andreas Christodoulou, EPF Youth Group Chair, and Nathalie Bere, Patient Engagement Specialist of the European Medicines Agency. 

One of the main outputs of the training was a common ‘’Code of Ethics’’ for young advocates which should guide us when dealing with industry, health technology assessment bodies and policy makers to ensure that our advocates’ perspective is really taken into account and represents our community.

We achieved to create a platform of young advocates that are willing to collaborate and learn from each other with the only aim of improving the lives of patients with different conditions. Thank you to all members of the EPF team and to the excellent trainers Ed Moss and Dan Moxon for these amazing and fruitful days, the work is not finished yet!

You can see more info about the summer trainings in the EPF website