At IAPOs Annual General Meeting (AGM), four members were re-elected to the IAPO Governing Board. They are Carol Bennett from the Consumers Health Forum in Australia, Robert Johnstone from National Voices in the UK, Eva Maria Ruiz de Castilla from Esperantra in Peru and Durhane Wong-Rieger from the Consumer Advocare Network in Canada.

Congratulations to Carol, Robert, Eva Maria and Durhane!

In May, IAPO attended the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly (WHA). At the WHA, IAPO made three interventions on universal health coverage, counterfeit medical products and WHO’s Draft Twelfth General Programme of Work (GPW12).

This was an opportunity for IAPO to put forward the patient perspective on important healthcare issues at the international level. Here we share IAPO's activities and the key outcomes from the WHA.

Patient Engagement in Medication Safety - Geneva, Switzerland - 23 May 2013  

On 23 May 2013, IAPO held a joint side meeting at the World Health Organization's (WHO) 66th World Health Assembly with the Government of Australia and WHO Patient Safety Programme.

IAPO CEO, Jo Groves, and IAPO member representative, Hana Konečná, recently attended the 6th Geneva Conference on Patient-Centered Medicine, organised by the International College of Person-Centered Medicine (ICPCM). Here, Hana shares her feedback on this event:

"As a representative of the patients' organization Adam Czech Republic, and at the same time, an academic expert, I took a part in the 6th Geneva Conference on Person-Centered Medicine. I am very interested in this topic, not only as a past and future patient fighting for "good practice", but as an expert.

English

Ginebra, Suiza, 24 Mayo 2013 – Este llamado se hizo en una Reunión Paralela a la Asamblea Mundial de la Salud que realiza la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) en Ginebra, Suiza. La reunión titulada: Participación del Paciente en la Medicación Segura, fue presentada por el Gobierno de Australia,  la Alianza Internacional de Organizaciones de Pacientes (IAPO) y sostenida en colaboración con el Programa de la OMS para Seguridad del Paciente (PSP).

Español

Geneva, Switzerland, 24 May 2013 – This call was made at a Side Meeting to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting entitled: Patient Engagement in Medication Safety, was hosted by the Government of Australia, the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO) and was held in collaboration with the WHO Patient Safety Programme (PSP).

Geneva, Switzerland,  May 2013 – The International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO) today urged the World Health Organization (WHO) Member States to involve patients in strategies to tackle the proliferation of counterfeit medication products. This request was central to an intervention made by IAPO on Substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit medical products at the Sixty-sixth session of the WHO World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The following is taken from IAPO’s statement:

Geneva, Switzerland, 24 May 2013 – The International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO) today urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to define universal health coverage and support countries in its implementation worldwide. This request was central to an intervention made by Carol Bennett, IAPO Board Member, on universal health coverage at the Sixty-sixth session of the WHO World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The following is taken from IAPO’s statement: