Newsletter November 2011 - European Hematology Association

EHA and Patient Organizations:
Advocates for Hematology
Patients and doctors are natural allies. Both have a vested interest in the improvement of quality healthcare and medical
research. Increasingly, patients are organizing to ensure that the decisions that affect them directly are informed by their
experience. EHA is moving towards representing the interests of hematologists and hematology to influence policies that affect
the discipline and practitioners of hematology in Europe. Given that both patients with hematological diseases and specialists
in the field of hematology have such closely shared interests, it is sensible to seek collaboration.
> For two years now, EHA has asked the European Cancer
Patient Coalition (ECPC) to organize a Patient Advocacy
Session at the Annual Congress. In addition, at this year’s
Congress in London, EHA invited European and international
organizations of patients with hematological diseases to meet.
As a result of that meeting, ECPC and EHA co-organized a
conference at the European Parliament that included patient
organizations, European Commission officials, and Members
of the European Parliament.
In the European Parliament, former EHA Executive Board
member Anton Hagenbeek is dazzling his audience with the
breakthroughs in medicine that were made by hematologists
2 > EHA Newsletter November 2011
Patient Advocacy Session: Adherence
The overflow area was needed in addition to the session room
to enable all those interested in this year’s Patient Advocacy
Session to watch the proceedings. This can be considered a
compliment to Jana Pelouchová of ECPC and Jan Geissler of
CML Advocates Network who did an excellent job selecting the
speakers and chairing the session that addressed the issue of
adherence: to what degree patients actually adhere to their
treatment, what is the effect, and what may be done. Giora