HCV infects and affects a population in the EU who do not access care. The arrival of new curative HCV drugs are a great opportunity for those resourced to attend services and adhere to treatment, but this adherent population is the minority in the EU. If we aim to cure HCV in all risk groups we must take the treatment to the patient and vice-versa. The activities will support the development of national hepatitis strategies, screening and treatment guidelines, taking into account available treatment options. It will help to bridge primary, secondary care, and outreach in the community to facilitate access to and uptake of testing and treatment services particularly among key risk groups including drug users and homeless. It will also assess the potentially considerable economic impact of available treatment and testing strategies on health systems, which are under the responsibility of the EU Member States, with a view to inform decisions on balancing access to medicines with the financial sustainability of health systems. The HepCare project will contain six different components.HepCheck will aim at intensifying screening in the communityHepLink will link primary and secondary care HepEd will educate and up-skill healthcare professionals in the treatment of Hepatitis CHepFriend will provide a peer advocate support programme for patients to help treatment outcomesHepCost will assess the economic impact of the projectThe coordinator will have overall responsibility for disseminating the project impact and liaising with decision makers.The project will take place in 4 member states: Ireland, the UK, Spain and Romania.The HepCare Project will build on work undertaken by the European Commission, the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction with the aim of reducing morbidity and mortality related to hepatitis C and reducing the socioeconomic impact of hepatitis in the EU/EEA.
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Topic: 1.3 Support effective responses to communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and hepatitis by identifying, disseminating and promoting the uptake of evidence-based and good practices for cost effective prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.
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Disease of the cornea (the transparent layer covering the front of the eye) is the second cause of blindness worldwide. The cornea is the most transplanted tissue with over 100,000 corneas transplanted annually. In Europe an estimated 30,000 corneal transplants are performed each year.
Currently there is no harmonisation of information across the European Union on the numbers or origins of the scarce corneas tissue available for transplant, the optimum procedure for transplant and the visual outcome and quality of life of corneal transplant patients.
The ESCRS in 2006 with the support of the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers pioneered an online Quality Registry of the outcomes of cataract and refractive surgeries (EUREQUO). ESCRS continues to support this Registry and has currently a database of over 2,000,000 surgeries.
ESCRS proposes to extend this platform to create a registry of corneal transplantation surgeries in Europe. The European Cornea and Cell Transplantation Network (ECCTR) will link three existing registries and recruit additional centres of excellence and eye banks to contribute data on availability of corneal tissue, methods of transplantation, and visual outcomes of surgery.
The focus of our consortium is on bringing added value and making a positive impact on one of the priority actions set out in the annual Work Programme for 2015; contributing to the fourth overall objective:” To build a common assessment methodology to allow academics, health professionals and authorities to assess and verify safety, quality and efficacy of (new) transplantation therapies and/or other types of clinical applications of human tissues and cells (e.g. assisted reproductive technologies).”
After the completion of this action the ECCTR will have all the data necessary to develop European Guidelines for Corneal Transplant Surgery to better utilise scarce cornea tissue ensure European self-sufficiency and reduce patient waiting lists.
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Topic: 4.5 Actions required by, or contributing to, the implementation of Union legislation in the fields of human tissues and cells, blood, human organs, medical devices, medicinal products, and patients' rights in cross-border healthcare, while fully respecting the competences and ethical choices of Member States in those fields. Such action may include activities aimed at facilitating the implementation, application, monitoring and review of that legislation.
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The STAD in Europe (SiE) project aims to tackle heavy episodic drinking by restricting the availability of alcohol in all drinking environments: licensed drinking environments, public environments and private environments. One of the most successful prevention strategies targeting binge drinking is STAD, developed in Stockholm, Sweden. The main components of STAD are community mobilization, a training course in responsible beverage service, and stricter enforcements. It is one of the few community action programme’s that has shown significant effects on the reduction of overserving of alcohol, underage drinking in city areas, and the reduction of alcohol-related aggression. STAD has even proven to be very cost-effective. Moreover, an approach based on environmental interventions is expected to be especially effective for lower socio-economic classes. In this project we would like to combine the knowledge gained in Sweden with complementary elements to come to an integral European approach for reducing availability of alcohol for young people. We think that every country and (drinking)culture will need a tailored approach but we also feel that the effective elements as were present in the STAD programme could be universally applicable. In 7 countries, 7 tailored STAD-based interventions will be developed (either focusing on nightlife, events, home-drinking or drinking in parks and streets) and implemented. Both the process and the outcomes will be researched and registered. The project will result in an intervention manual applicable to all EU MS and a final symposium on tackling binge drinking in Europe. All European countries and regions will be facilitated to implement strategies for reducing alcohol availability that have the potential to reduce alcohol related problems in a substantial way.
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Topic: 1.1 Cost-effective promotion and prevention measures in line, in particular, with the Union strategies on alcohol and nutrition, and including actions to support the exchange of evidence-based and good practices for addressing risk factors such as tobacco use and passive smoking, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy dietary habits and physical inactivity, taking into account the public health aspects of underlying factors, such as those of a social and environmental nature, with a focus on Union added value.
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