From left: Mike Glynn, Ann Little, Andreas Habberstad, Hanneke de Boer and Thanos Covanis
Hanneke de Boer provides news from the EUCARE Political Action Group and its recent meeting in the Netherlands
It has been silent around the Political Action Group (PAG) for a while now, although things are happening in the background, but that is all about to change.
Due to a career move, demanding more of his time, Peter Dahlqvist left the group, as it was difficult for him to continue with all his IBE activities. His position has now been filled by Andreas Habberstad from Norway, who is Secretary of the IBE European Regional Executive Committee.
Membership of the Political Action Group now consists of:
- Hanneke M de Boer (Netherlands), Chair
- Martin J Brodie (Scotland)
- Thanos Covanis (Greece)
- Mike Glynn (Ireland)
- Andreas Habberstad (Norway)
- Svein Johannessen (Norway), representing the ILAE Commission on European Affairs
- Ann Little, IBE Executive Director, provides administrative support.
The PAG had its last meeting in Heemstede, Netherlands, when discussion centred around issues we are currently working on. These include:
- The EUCARE – PAG session at the 11th Epilepsy & Society Conference, which will take place in Marseille in October. The (working) title of this session is Advocacy in Europe. Presentations will be followed by a panel discussion. A competition will be held during the conference, with the competition questions included in the conference bags. Winners will be drawn from those who submit the correct answers, with prizes handed out at the end of this session.
It has been decided to write a column regularly in the IE News on PAG activities to keep people informed.
- Production of a booklet of examples and guidelines for best practice, such as the Chilean Drugs Bank’; campaigns in Japan and India concerning changes in driving licence regulations; the Swedish campaign in relation to European guidelines on generic drugs; and the UK and Japanese guidelines concerning TV guidelines and photosensitivity.
- Review of the epilepsy curriculum for general practitioners, general nurses, general paediatricians and neurologists, to determine the suspected poor level of training provided and, in collaboration with others, to try and take action to improve the situation.
- Collection of information on European Epilepsy Centres.
- Contact with the Members of the European Parliament who have expressed an interest in epilepsy to involve them in future actions.
This brief report should be a start of the regular information in the IE News on the progress made by the Political Action Group.
This article was published in the IE News issue 4-2007