La comunicazione fatta da ECPC a tutte le organizzazioni aderenti. (vai al sito di ECPC)
Dear Members,
We are writing to inform you about the work that ECPC has been undertaking on the UN Declaration on Non-Communicable Diseases.
favoAs you know, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are diseases that include cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.·Despite substantial evidence in favour of concerted action, some countries and individuals still express concerns about how to achieve the best response to NCDs, including cancer.·In Europe, ECPC has campaigned on a range of policy initiatives such as cross-border healthcare and policy platforms such as the European Partnership for Action Against Cancer to ensure concrete actions against cancer.
To ensure that the UN Declaration results in consensus for an effective global response for action against cancer, the board of ECPC have taken a leading role to ensure that concrete steps will be taken so as to realise international actions against cancer. This started back in January 2011 when we met with the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to convey our priorities for this declaration.
On behalf of the ESMO Patient Working Group, ECPC campaigned to have certain points included within the UN Declaration. Through this initiative, most of the European chronic disease organisations co-signed our letter presenting key messages, which we sent to all Health Ministers in Europe, Heads of State and Commission Officials. As a result of this letter, ECPC has been in dialogue with Health Commissioner Dalli's Cabinet and various Health Ministries about this declaration. Our Brussels Office has worked with relevant politicians, Commission officials and the European Presidency Representative to ensure that the concerns of our membership are included.
Due to FAVO’s unique position in Italy, having developed a close working relationship with the Italian Health Ministry on patient issues and participating in Health Committee meetings, this ECPC member organisation has ensured that our concerns and amendments to this UN Declaration were proposed by a national government. This has supported and developed the work of ECPC Board and Office at the European and national levels.
Due to their participation in national political meetings, FAVO was asked to provide input to the draft declaration, taking into account the positions that we advocated at the European level. Through amendments proposed by FAVO on behalf of ECPC, the Italian Ministry was able to convince Heads of State to take of our concerns into account in subsequent drafts, and to include our amendments in the final draft of this declaration.
Through the advocacy of ECPC and FAVO, the Italian Foreign Ministry were able to guarantee that the following amendment was included in paragraph (51): “Foster partnerships between government and civil society, building on the contribution of health-related NGOs and patient organizations, to support, as appropriate, the provision of services for the prevention and control, treatment, care, including palliative care, of NCDs”.
The inclusion of this amendment is a substantial achievement for patient organisations and provides the democratic bridge for patient organisations to legitimately collaborate with governmental authorities, shaping the legislation so as to respond to patients’ un-met needs. Once the declaration has been approved, the European Cancer Patient Coalition and our members will be refer to this when they contact national authorities and representatives, as this clause defines the legal legitimacy of the close collaboration of patient organisations with their governmental authorities.
Due to FAVO's involvement in this process, the ECPC President has asked FAVO to represent the Coalition at the UN Summit in New York and present our views there. FAVO is the only European patient organisation attending this UN Summit.
Attached to this email is the current draft declaration and a position statement from ECPC on this.
If you would like to communicate any key points at this UN event, please do not hesitate to send an email to Denis Horgan (
Yours Sincerely,
Tom Hudson, ECPC President
Francesco De Lorenzo, ECPC Vice President, FAVO President