Thalassaemia, a previously fatal childhood genetic disease, can today be effectively prevented and appropriately treated, as a result of medical and scientific advances in the last three decades. However, thalassaemia’s prioritisation on national health agendas and the development of national plans for its effective control in the EU has been hampered by the many challenges involved, mainly related to its rarity and migration.

THALassaemia In Action 2021 (THALIA2021) focuses on Europe, targeting patients with thalassaemia and other haemoglobinopathies, healthcare professionals and policymakers and aims to attain four general objectives, based on TIF’s main pillars of activities:

1. Continue and strengthen the education of patients/parents and healthcare professionals, as well as the patients’ capacity, competency and networking within and across countries and regions of Europe. This is to be achieved via the development of e-learning tools and the launching of capacity building courses and training seminars.

2. Raise awareness on thalassaemia and the importance of optimal care amongst the public at large, as well as among THALIA target groups at national and European level. This will be attained using an array of online tools, activities and publications.

3. Prioritise haemoglobin disorders and their control (prevention and management) at European level. This will be accomplished by establishing and training national patients’ associations in EU priority countries, creating an EU Electronic Health Record and entering into policy dialogue with policymakers at national and European level.

4. Support research programmes and studies focused on the clinical management of Thalassaemia. This is to be achieved via the publication of guidelines on the clinical management of Thalassaemia, participating in scientific conferences and providing fellowships to medical specialists.

Knowledge is our power. Unity is our strength.
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The European Reference Network for rare Hereditary Metabolic Diseases (MetabERN) aims to facilitate access to the best available care and address the needs across the border of all patients affected by rare inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs) and their families. It is unprecedented that a pan-EU Network covers expertise encompassing all the IMDs (over 700) regardless of their incidence and prevalence, severity, availability of treatment and characteristics of patient population. The MetabERN is driven by the principle of patient-centeredness for the provision of its services aiming at improving the quality of life of patients and families. In this spirit, family associations (FAs) play a crucial role into the planning and decision-making system related to patient care and management as well as policy activities impacting on the EU Rare Disease Policy Agenda. World-known experts will work hand-in-hand with FAs to develop guidelines for accurate diagnosis and optimal management of IMDs in order to strengthen referral systems across the border. MetabERN will facilitate access to treatment by channeling expertise through virtual and web-based platforms to minimize patient mobility. MetabERN will serve as a hub of knowledge and information by connecting the most relevant scientific associations and EU established networks in this area. A structured collaboration is activated with other European Reference Networks with overlapping disease areas to ensure that patients receive the best available care. Knowledge of IMDs will increase among target groups, mainly Healthcare Professionals, Patients and Researchers, thanks to the tailored training activities that will be developed after a thorough check of their needs. Early uptake of medical advances will be bolstered by developing recommendations to overcome the barriers to translational research. Our focus on safety and cost-effective treatments will drive the future IMD research agenda for the next 10 years.
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ERN-LUNG is a network of European patients and healthcare providers dedicated to ensuring and promoting excellence in care and research to the benefit of patients affected by rare respiratory diseases. ERN-LUNG’s vision is to be a European knowledge hub for rare respiratory diseases and to decrease morbidity and mortality from rare respiratory diseases in people of all ages. ERN-LUNG is a European Reference Network (ERN), a non-profit, international, professional, patient centred network.
ERN-LUNG is focused on rare respiratory diseases and is made up of nine core networks representing the diversity of diseases and conditions affecting the lungs. The current core networks (sub-thematic areas) are interstitial lung diseases, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, primary ciliary dyskinesia, non-CF bronchiectasis, alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency,
mesothelioma, chronic lung allograft dysfunction, and other rare lung diseases (e.g. respiratory malformations, Ondine syndrome). In addition to the sub-thematic groups, ERN-LUNG is also organized in functional committees tackling horizontal topics, affecting all of the current and future core networks of ERN-LUNG. These functional committees are Research and Clinical Trials, Ethical Issues, Registries and Biobanks, Patient Recorded Outcomes and Quality of Life, Quality Management, Guidelines and Best Practice of Care, Communication and Outreach, Cross Border Care, and Professional Training and Continued Medical Education.
In building up on and learning from mature networks of recognized international excellence, ERN-LUNG will add value for patients, healthcare providers, and professionals through dissemination of knowledge, enhancement of general expertise by learning from the best centres in rare respiratory diseases in Europe, and improvement of standards of care, quality of life and prognosis for the whole spectrum of rare pulmonary diseases.
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GENTURIS is a European Reference Network (ERN) for all patients with one of the rare genetic tumour risk syndromes (genturis). These patients are at very high hereditary risk of developing multiple tumours, which are often located in multiple organ systems. In case they are diagnosed with cancer they need different treatment and follow-up as compared to non-hereditary cancers. In addition GENTURIS takes care of the relatives of these patients, for which prevention and early detection of tumours is of great importance too.
WHAT IS OUR MISSION: To inspire hope and contribute to health and well being by organizing and providing the best care to every patient in Europe with a genetic tumour risk syndrome through integrated multidisciplinary healthcare, guidelines, education and research.
WHAT IS OUR DESIRED END-STATE: Striving to be the world’s leader of genetic tumour risk syndromes in patient participation, clinical care, research and education.
The ERN GENTURIS is addressing the following challenges when it comes to the identification, genetic testing, tumour prevention and treatment of patients with genturis: 1) Great majority of genturis patients are not yet identified 2) Large variation in clinical outcomes resulting in impaired prognosis and avoidable costs 3) Guidelines are lacking or implemented insufficiently 4) Almost no patient registries and biobanks 5) Limited research programs 6) Fragmented patient empowerment activities.
There are 4 thematic groups of syndromes: 1: Neurofibromatosis type 1, 2 & Schwannomatosis. 2: Lynch syndrome & polyposis. 3: Hereditary breast & ovarian cancer. 4: Other rare - predominantly malignant - syndromes. This group includes syndromes not covered in the other groups. It is a heterogeneous group with very small numbers of patients that will benefit greatly from a centralized approach. Within the next years not yet covered as well as newly discovered genturis will be included as well.

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ERN-NMD is a European Reference Network for the thematic grouping of rare neuromuscular diseases (NMDs), a broad group of related disorders that represent a major cause of mortality and lifelong disability in children and adults. NMDs are caused by acquired or genetic defects of motorneurons, peripheral nerves, neuromuscular junctions or skeletal muscle, resulting in muscle weakness and wasting, swallowing and breathing difficulties, and cardiac failure. NMDs are difficult to recognize, and patients experience long delays in diagnosis. No curative treatments yet exist for any NMD and their rarity and diversity pose specific challenges for healthcare and research, and for the development and marketing of therapies.

NMDs collectively affect an estimated 500,000 EU citizens and result in significant costs for families and the healthcare system. ERN-NMD unites 61 of Europe’s leading NMD clinical and research centres in 14 Member States and includes highly active patient organizations. More than 100,000 NMD patients are seen annually by the ERN. The network addresses harmonizing and implementing standards for clinical and diagnostic best practice, improving equity of care provision across Member States, decreasing time to diagnosis, increasing cost efficiency through better care pathways, access to specialist training and education, application of eHealth services, development and application of care guidelines, facilitating translational and clinical research, harmonising data and samples for research reuse, and sharing of high-quality data.

ERN-NMD partners will form the backbone for national implementation of best practice NMD care and will form trusted partnerships with payers, national health systems and RD national plans. Ultimately, ERN-NMD will improve health outcomes in NMD patients across Europe, provide new opportunities for translational research, and reduce the burden of these chronic disabling conditions for families and healthcare systems in Europe.

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