20 January 2017
Written by Lucy Swain
On Tuesday 17th January, 14 individuals from 11 organisations across Europe met for the Life Course Immunisation Strategy Workshop in Brussels. This meeting was co-chaired by Dr Daphne Holt of CoMO and Peggy Maguire of the European Institute of Women’s Health (EIWH) and thanks to facilitators, Incisive Health, was successful in establishing clear next steps for the group to move towards a European life course approach to immunisation.
Enthusiastic delegates included individuals from a range of European NGOs, health professions, as well as representatives from the pharmaceutical industry. Some were local to Brussels but others travelled from Italy, the UK, Austria, Germany and France to collaborate and decide upon common hurdles and goals in order to establish a strategy for moving the Life Course Immunisation initiative forward.
Many of the delegates present had attended the Excellence in Paediatrics (EIP) Conference in December, where CoMO co-chaired a policy forum on Life Course Immunisation. The December event served as an excellent bridge between the European Parliamentary meeting in May 2016, where LCI issues were launched, to this latest workshop where strategic steps were determined.
There were particular priorities identified during the strategy workshop: gathering consistent data across member states, improving access to and communication of data to the general public, and overcoming cultural challenges across nations. CoMO is confident that within the delegates, there are sufficient resources to begin tackling these priorities.
We are looking forward to continuing to develop our relationship with the EIWH and other participants of the workshop through this exciting project. It is through collaborating to represent society as a united voice that we can really bring about positive change.
Finally, the importance of communication and social media was one topic of discussion at the workshop. Don’t forget to stay connected with us on social media and through our blog, to follow progress! 2017 has got off to a bright start and it is sure to continue!
Written by Lucy Swain
Lucy is the Events and Communications Officer at CoMO. She is a graduate from the University of Liverpool, where she studied French and Hispanic Studies. Lucy has experience working for a range of organisations in the charity sector both in the UK and overseas.