The EFPC would like to congratulate Elena Petelos as the new member of the HERA Civil Society Forum. The EFPC is thrilled and fortunate to have an exquisite representative like Elena Petelos to represent us in future meetings and discussion groups.
Elena Petelos gave the following statement about her new position:
“This is wonderful news; honoured and humbled to be able to serve in this capacity and I hope we can discuss how we can make this participation meaningful for all our members in primary care.”
Coordination and cooperation between the European Member States and the European Commission were crucial in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health Emergency preparedness & Response Authority’s (HERA) task will be to ensure that the EU and the Member States are much more ready to act in the face of a cross-border crisis. HERA will complement the work of existing EU health agencies.
Recently, HERA has put together an Advisory Forum that will serve as a platform to exchange information, discuss ideas linked to HERA’s activities, and be a space for Member States to share their views. The topics for discussion are related to supply chains, manufacturing of medical countermeasures, epidemiological intelligence, and surveillance of possible health threats. The HERA Advisory Forum will have two sub-groups, the Civil Society Forum and the Joint Industrial Cooperation forum.
The Civil Society Forum is a sub-group that will ensure that HERA’s Advisory Forum regularly receives inputs, views, and opinions from civil society stakeholders. Together with the Joint Industrial Cooperation Forum, both forums will provide the HERA’s Advisory Forum with observations and assessments from a range of diverse stakeholders. That will further support the work of the Advisory Forum and contribute to the informed opinions and conclusions.
On the 19th of April 2022, the EFPC submitted their application for selecting members of the Civil Society Forum. The selection process was competitive and quite long; however, the final decision was made by HERA’s Advisory Forum on the 10th of June 2022.
