ECDC publishes data on hepatitis B and C surveillance and prevention in Europe

ECDC releases today two new reports on hepatitis B and C entitled ‘Surveillance and prevention of hepatitis B and C in Europe’ and ‘Hepatitis B and C in the EU neighbourhood: prevalence, burden of disease and screening policies’.

Hepatitis surveillance is implemented in all Member States but varies considerably across countries. Universal vaccination programmes for HBV are implemented in 22 countries and seven countries have established targeted vaccination programmes.

The majority of the countries have implemented screenings for HBV in pregnant women; only four countries do not have such a programme. Half of the countries conduct screening programmes for hepatitis C, primarily for injecting drug users and prison inmates. Prevalence data on HBV and HCV remain scarce in many countries, both for the general population and groups-at-risk.

The release of the reports coincides with a summit conference on hepatitis B and C, which will take place from 14 to 15 October in Brussels, Belgium.

The conference will bring together major stakeholders to analyse new and existing information and enable European policy makers and other stakeholders to formulate public policies in response to the epidemic of viral hepatitis in Europe.

Download the report on Surveillance and prevention of hepatitis B and C in Europe

Download the report on hepatitis B and C in the EU neighbourhood: prevalence, burden of disease and screening policies

Read the info sheet on hepatitis B and C: current situation in EU/EEA


Source


ECDC

European Commission Publishes Eurobarometer on Mental Health

A poll released to mark World Mental Health Day reveals that during the 12 months preceding the survey, 15% of respondents across EU Member States sought professional help for psychological or emotional problems and 7% took antidepressants, mostly for depression or anxiety.

This Eurobarometer survey on the self perceived Mental Health of European citizens was conducted during February and March 2010 in the 27 Member States of the European Union.

According to the results, there is still stigma attached to mental disorders, with 22% of those surveyed saying they would find it difficult to speak to a person with a "significant mental disorder". This issue and the other results will be discussed during the next thematic conference under the:

European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being : "Promoting Social Inclusion and Combating Stigma for better Mental Health and Well-being",

taking place in Lisbon on 8-9 November

Link to the Eurobarometer report: http://ec.europa.eu/health/mental_health/eurobarometers/index_en.htm


Source

http://ec.europa.eu/health/mental_health/eurobarometers/index_en.htm

16th Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists: online abstract submission is now open

16th Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, 30 March - 1 April 2011, Vienna, Austria.

"Hospital Pharmacists in a changing world - opportunities and challenges".

EAHP's online abstract submission is now open.

You can visit the EAHP congress web site at www.eahp.eu to view the new guidelines for abstract/poster submissions.

There have been changes made and the new guidelines will be used during the review process.

The deadline to submit your abstract is 15 October 2010.

Also note that new to EAHP will be including your posters on the EAHP web site following the congress.


Sources

http://www.eahp.eu/

http://www.eahp.eu/Congresses/2011-Congress-Vienna-Austria

http://www.eahp.eu/Congresses/Abstract-information

European Medicines Agency launches new website

The European Medicines Agency today unveiled its new corporate website at http://www.ema.europa.eu/. The site has been completely redesigned and rebuilt to optimize usability for the Agency's key online audiences and build on existing activities to improve openness and transparency.

The Agency website now receives an average of half a million unique visits per month and is a key resource for patients, healthcare professionals, regulators and those interested in the regulation and safety of medicines in the European Union.


Some of the website’s new features include:

* Quick medicine searches: Allows you to search for human and veterinary medicines by name and active substance and for herbal medicinal substances by name
* An online library: Enables you to search for all Agency documents currently online through a search on title and date published online.
* Improved navigation: More intuitive labelling and improved organisation of content so that browsing is quicker for all audience groups
* Audience landing pages: Flags information of specific value to different key users
* Online calendar and news search: Allows you to keep up to date with the latest news and events at the Agency
* RSS feeds: Brings information straight to you as soon as it is published online.

Through 2010 and 2011 the Agency will continue to work on improving the website by increasing the use of multimedia and improving search functionalities.

Source

http://www.ema.europa.eu/

WEBICINA: the new, free aggregator of quality medical information

WEBICINA, PeRSSonalized Medicine is a free, easy-to-use aggregator of quality medical information that lets you

• select your favourite resources,
• read the latest news,
• get informed from the newest articles

about a medical specialty or a medical condition in one personalized place.

Webicina contains only quality resources in the databases.


Source

http://www.webicina.com/perssonalized/?page=2&cat=0

Pictogram Project by MEPS

This project has been undertaken by MEPS to give health professionals a means of communicating medication instructions to people that they have no language in common with and / or who may be illiterate. MEPS members provide emergency relief and humanitarian aid relief where such a means of communication may well be required.

To download the latest version of the Pictogram (under a zip file), please click one of the following links:

Download Pictograms program NA [8Mb] (last update: June 2009)
(This is the North American version, which prints on Letter size paper)

Download Pictograms program EU [8Mb] (last update: June 2009)
(This is the European version, which prints on A4 size paper)

If you don't have Microsoft Access on your computer, you will also have to download Access Runtime (free download) on Microsoft website: click here

Click here to download the instructions of use

Source

http://www.fip.nl/www/index.php?page=pp_sect_maepsm_pictogram