People with intellectual disabilities (ID) have a wide range of chronic and acute health issues and conditions. In many instances, more frequent and severe symptoms than the general population. They are twice as likely to have significant visual problems and at much younger age and are hardly ever engaged in vigorous physical activity and find it difficult to make themselves understood when speaking with health professionals. The health conditions are may be similar to the general population, the impacts can be greater on those with ID. People with ID experience higher mortality rates as a result of higher rates of cardiovascular diseases. The general objective of SOEEF is to provide year around training and competition as well as well being and health promotion initiatives for athletes across the EU 28.Furthermore the goal is to expand the network of trained coaches and health care professionals through training model, seminars and meetings. The ultimate goal is to engage more athlete, families, service providers and further stakeholders into Special Olympics programs to guaranty the growth of sport, well being and health opportunities throughout the EUan as well as have positive impact on health and well being of people with ID in general.The Special Olympics Health Program "Healthy Athletes" offers free of charge Health screenings and intervention for children and adults with an intellectual disabilities (ID). People with ID are often excluded from quality health care and/or have difficulties to find qualified health care providers. HA provides also comprehensive training opportunities for health care providers, families that have members with an ID, medical students and other health care experts.
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The proposal creates a new, open ‘European network to reduce vulnerabilities in health’, bringing together NGOs and academic partners from 17 EU Member States and 2 EFTA/EEA countries. Our goal is to contribute to decreased EU-wide health inequalities and to more responsive health systems that are better equipped to deal with vulnerability factors that increase health inequalities.The economic crisis has demonstrated that everyone could be ‘vulnerable’ at a given moment in their life. Many members of ‘vulnerable groups’ such as (undocumented) migrants or asylum seekers, sex workers, drug users, Roma, the homeless etc. are actually quite resilient. Consequently, the concept of 'vulnerability' is more useful, inclusive and more precise than the term ‘vulnerable groups’. In order for health systems in Europe to be sustainable and resilient, they need to be able to cover the whole population without any gaps and effectively deal with multiple vulnerabilities.The founding members of the Network seek to gain greater capacity and skills through mutual learning about how to improve health service delivery, patient empowerment, common data collection and advocacy. As a result, people facing multiple vulnerabilities will get access to higher quality care in the health programmes run by Network members and the skills and knowledge they need to get easier access to good quality care in mainstream healthcare systems. The Network will undertake a common data collection process to generate robust data, analysed and validated by a leading epidemiologist. This data will be valuable for academics to review and acquire greater understanding about how vulnerabilities contribute to health inequalities. It will also be a new resource for local, regional, national and EU health authorities, enlarging the evidence base on reducing vulnerabilities in health and identifying ways that health systems could become more responsive and adapted.
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EPF’s 2015-2017 Programme has two overarching objectives derived from the strategic goals defined in our 2014-2020 Strategic Plan.1. To strengthen the patient perspective and impact in EU health-related policy, programmes and decision-making through evidence-based, results-oriented advocacy2. To reinforce the capacity of patients and patients’ organisations to contribute effectively to better health and social care and to enhance their accountability and mutual solidarity.These will be achieved through targeted policy, communication, membership, capacity building and partnership activities and deliverables framed around two thematic priorities: patient empowerment and equitable access to quality care, reflecting the EPF Strategic Plan and stringent governance /consultation structure. Emphasis will also be placed on growing EPF’s youth group, the needs of patients from vulnerable groups and non-discrimination on the grounds of health. The WP 2015-17 will reflect the health-related priorities of the EU Institutions and contributes directly to the implementation of the 3rd Public Health Programme Objective 3, supporting public health capacity building and contributing to innovative, efficient, and sustainable health systems; and objective 4, facilitating access to better and safer healthcare. It contributes specifically to the implementation of key EU legislation on -cross-border healthcare, patient safety, pharmacovigilance falsified medicines, clinical trials and medical devices, as well as to the EU’s priorities on eHealth and HTA. Particular focus is given to supporting capacity of patient organisations to get involved in implementation processes at national level and obtaining feedback. We will collaborate closely with health stakeholder allies in the public health arena, mutually supporting relevant dossiers. The WP’s processes, outputs, and impact, measured against our two over-arching objectives and specific indicators will be evaluated on an on-going basis.
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The ‘European Network to reduce vulnerabilities in health’ was founded in 2015 with NGOs and academic partners from 19 European countries. Our goal is to contribute to decreased EU-wide health inequalities and to more responsive health systems that are better equipped to deal with vulnerability factors. By collecting robust, comparative routine data (quantitative and qualitative) we aim to improve the quality of service delivery and build a solid evidence base for advocacy for people facing vulnerabilities. If this application is successful, we expect to integrate five new member organisations into the Network. The creation of the Network has been welcomed by its members, who confirmed the relevance to their everyday work and the added value of exchanges in the four strategic objectives: mutual learning, empowerment, data collection and advocacy. In addition to the data collection, analysis of legal frameworks in different countries, workshops and training activities, in 2016, we will begin peer reviews to allow members to directly experience different modes of providing health and care services. The Network will continue the process of rigorous data collection and analysis with specific support being provided by the Network secretariat to the five members that expect to start collecting data for the first time in 2016. The Network invites academics to independently review the data and understand how vulnerabilities contribute to health inequalities. The Network also engages with European institutions and stakeholders. Given the unprecedented economic crisis and the unpredictable, fast-changing refugee situation, and the fact that our members are in the front line in responding to their humanitarian needs, the Network may need to re-prioritize its mutual learning goals in the coming months.
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The European Network to reduce vulnerabilities in health brings together NGOs and academic partners from 23 European countries. Its goal is to contribute to the reduction of EU-wide health inequalities and to improve the response from better equipped health systems so as to deal with vulnerability factors. The Network advocates in favour of better access to healthcare for people facing vulnerabilities through solid quantitative data collection among the partners and advocacy towards European institutions and stakeholders. The members work in different fields of health and social care provision and support a variety of target groups, from the homeless and sex workers to people in poverty and migrants. This creates the potential for rich exchanges on good practices and an opportunity for more effective common advocacy activities across Europe.

2017-last year of a three-year project (2015-2017) - will focus on capitalising on the lessons learned over the three years and enlarging ambitions for future collaboration. This implies designing tools that can be used in the longer run such as a toolkit on best practices and two webinars on data collection and patient empowerment. Dialogue between the members will continue, sharing knowledge about activities and expertise by organizing exchanges between peers and workshops on advocacy and empowerment.

The Network will continue to work on the data collection process in 14 European countries. Medical and social surveys conducted in free clinics receiving people facing vulnerabilities (EU citizens and migrants) enable to identify their health status and social determinants, including obstacles to access to care, in order to inform health policy makers and obtain positive changes. More particularly, the Network’s joint data collection and advocacy on refugees’ health needs will help create a more balanced public discourse within which policy makers can commit to abide by their international obligations towards refugees.

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