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Monthly Newsletter edited by Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network
Civic Activism | Patients' Rights | Consumers' Rights | Support ACN
  


Year 3th, number 20 - April 2014
Highlight

Assisted Reproduction: Unconstitutional the Italian law on fertility treatments
The Law 40/2004 which regulates medically assisted procreation in Italy is unconstitutional, according to the Italian Constitutional Court.  
The question of the constitutionality concerns the donation of gametes, namely the so-called heterologous fertilization: the possibility, when one partner is sterile, to resort to sperm or egg cells external to the couple to conceive a baby, a practice until now prohibited in Italy.
Lawyer Maria Paola Costantini is one of the legal who have defended couples in front of the Courts. She is also a national contact Cittadinanzattiva for the policies of the medically assisted procreation: “Historic success of couples, associations, doctors and scientific societies. After the judgment of the Constitutional Court on heterologous fertilization is even more evident that the Law 40 water on all sides, and therefore must be rewritten”. Read more

To read the context, click here

To read the news in French by Liberation, click here

To read more detail, click here (Italian page)

To download previous document by the Constitutional Court of Italy, click here

Focus

Informed maternity, a guide for migrant mothers
Cittadinanzattiva, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, has developed a project on improving access to pregnancy and maternity services by immigrant women in Italy. The project is inspired by the need to ensure that all women and their children have the same access to services during pregnancy and childbirth, regardless of ethnicity and social status and with equal dignity and safety. Download the free guide in 5 languages (Italian, Arabic, Chinese, French, English)

News
Patients' Rights

International experts will attend the VIII European Patients’ Rights Day 2014: join us!!
Active Citizenship Network is glad to invite you to attend this important European event on “The role of citizens' organisations in the empowerment of patients with chronic diseases” on the 12-13 of May 2014, in Brussels. International experts will enrich this year the event, read the Programme
As the places available are limited, the registration is needed, please fill in the registration form and send it by e-mail to: e.blasucci@activecitizenship.net

ENS4Care General Assembly – 09 April 2014
Just the day before the publication of the Green Paper on mHealth, a very successful General Assembly of the ENS4Care project took place in Brussels on 09 April 2014 at the Microsoft premises, gathering 24 partner organisations from all over Europe. Representatives from nurses, social workers, patients, doctors, citizens, women, students and industry met to work together and exchange views on the numerous practices collected and on the development of the future EU guidelines for nurses and social workers for the deployment of eHealth services. Read more

Italy’s highest rate of diabetes in the south
Basilicata is the Italian region with the highest incidence of diabetes: 7.8%. Followed at a short distance by the Calabria Region (7.6%). In Italy, the prevalence of what is one of the most common chronic degenerative diseases amounts to 5% of the population. While its direct costs account for 10-15% of the total health care spending. Equal to a per capita expenditure of €3,348 per patient per year. These are some of the figures released on the occasion of the presentation of the “Civic Recommendation on diabetes“, realized by Cittadinanzattiva in collaboration with FAND-Italian Diabetic Association, and with the active support of a table of experts. Download the document (Italian version)

ACN joins to “Sign Against Stroke Task Force”
Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder, affecting approximately 6 million individuals in Europe. The Global AF Patient Charter was designed to bring a worldwide, unified voice to improving the care and treatment of individuals living with atrial fibrillation (AF) and those at risk for AF-related stroke. The goal of Sign Against Stroke is to gather 1.7 million signatures in support of the Charter – one for each of the estimated number of people killed or disabled by AF strokes every year. — and provide those signatures to healthcare decision makers in countries across the world. Read more

Best Practices on Chronic pain: GET ACTIVE!
Active Citizenship Network is looking for Best Practices dealing with chronic pain, with an emphasis on policy initiatives aimed at increasing patient empowerment, awareness campaign for the benefit of citizenship, attention of various stakeholders. To these may be added also good practice in the clinical management of chronic pain and dedicated tools. The most significant will be published and showed in a European event celebrated during  the EU Italian Presidency in the II half of 2014. The invitation to participate is addressed to both single associations of patients with chronic disease and chronic pain, and networks / umbrella Organisations. The deadline  to participate is the 30th of July 2014. To participate  write to Daniela Quaggia: d.quaggia@activecitizenship.net

Healthcare in your pocket: unlocking the potential of mHealth
The European Commission launched a consultation on mHealth  or mobile health, asking for help in finding ways to enhance the health and wellbeing of Europeans with the use of mobile devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, patient monitoring devices and other wireless devices. Read more

Consumers' Rights

European Commission publishes first EU Transport Scoreboard
The European Commission has published for the first time a scoreboard on transport in the EU. It compares Member State performance in 22 transport-related categories and highlights for most of these categories the five top and bottom performers. The Netherlands and Germany top the scoreboard with high scores in 11 categories, followed by Sweden, the UK and Denmark. Read more and download statistical pocketbook.

DG Agriculture and Rural Development: Civil dialogue groups, calls for applications
The call for applications concerns the composition of 14 civil dialogue groups, each covering a different subject relating to the common agricultural policy, including rural development, and its implementation. Deadline for the submission of applications is 30/04/2014.Read more

Civic Activism

Campaign "LIS - Make Your Mark" to invite young people to vote for the renewal of the European Parliament
70 Italian boys and girls, disabled or with a spent criminal behind, together to give life to an information campaign on the forthcoming European elections, to invite their peers to "make their mark" by participating in the vote. Campaign is dedicated to inclusion and accessibility, with the video translated into the language of signs and printed materials accompanied by corresponding audio file online to the usability of the blind and visually impaired.
The project "LIS - Make your mark" is coordinated by the information services of Palermo and has the cooperation of the municipalities of Milan and Palermo and Ancona Office of Juvenile Justice and Palermo.Read more (Italian website)

Euproact: an open window on European citizenship
Euproact, the website dedicated to European citizenship, is now online. The website serves
as a virtual place of reflection and analysis of the main issues related to the theme of European citizenship. Through the different sections, study materials as well as a database of more than 100 civic good practice, are available for download.
The design and management of the site are undertaken by FONDACA, which carries more than ten years of study and research on the topic of active citizenship and European citizenship. Visit the website

Italy: two debates for more democracy in Europe
A Manifesto was presented in Rome last 12 of April from Economia Democratica, Sbilanciamoci, Comitati Dossetti per la costituzione. Promoters call on all political forces who care about the future of the Union to promote the allocation of functions constituting the new Parliament, as the European Constituent Assembly. Read more (Italian    page).
On 14 of April, Democracy International, with ALDA, CIME and EYCA presented in Rome the  EU campaign “Democratic Europe Now. The alliance of organizations is calling for an EU Convention under Article 48 of the Lisbon Treaty, so that proposals for democratic and other reform can be debated in an open forum. Read more

2014 Venice School of Human Rights
The fifth edition of the EIUC Venice School of Human Rights will run from 27 June to 5 July 2014 and is accepting applications until 15 May 2014. The EIUC Venice School of Human Rights will update participants on the state of the art debate on human rights issues and stimulate their reflection on the current challenges faced by human rights actors worldwide. Read more

Looking for partners for the next Erasmus Plus
The young people of the Cyprus European youth club within the framework of the “European youth in Action program” is promoting in Cyprus the “Street Art” a concept that will upgrade the quality of the Simple life of every stroller in the city Centre.  Potential partners interested can contact the European social Forum of Cyprus

Events

15 May: Action Day of The European Doctors
Let’s stop the action of Governments throughout Europe: with their policies they are destroying the public health and forced it to a destiny of poverty. Health care and its development should, instead, become a priority for the European governments, as the operability of the Health Services has an irreplaceable role in the development and stabilization of Society. This is the objective of the protest organized by FEMS (European Federation of Salaried Doctors) to support and claim all over Europe the right to health for citizens and better working conditions for operators. Read more

7-10 May, Maastricht (The Netherlands): 7th World Congress of the World Institute of Pain
WIP 2014 will give you access to leading lecturers and a scientific program consisting of the latest evidence-based and best-practice-based pain medicine in all relevant disciplines. Read more

19 May, Brussels (Belgium): First MOPACT Active Ageing Forum announced
The event, the first of three annual meetings, provides stakeholders and end users with the opportunity to appraise MOPACT’s interim findings, and to contribute their own ideas and guidance about innovative ways to develop the work and maximize its impact. ACN it was invited. Read more

 

Credits
Director and Editor in chief: Mariano Votta
Vice-director: Alessandro Cossu
Editors: Daniela Quaggia
Coordination and Production: Giacomo D'Orazio 
We thank "Expert network EU4U" for collaboration

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