IAPO work with the World Health Organization (WHO)
In 2009, IAPO continued to build on its work with WHO since entering into "official relations status" with WHO in 2007. This year IAPO was able to provide patients and patients’ organizations, from 17 countries and a range of disease areas, with the opportunity to participate in the WHO’s World Health Assembly (WHA), for the first time.  IAPO held a patient workshop on working effectively with the WHO to coincide with the WHA that took place during the same week. The overall aim of the workshop was to provide patient advocates with a better understanding of the role of WHO in global health policy and how to advocate with WHO on behalf of patients. IAPO is also actively working with WHO on a number of issues including public health, intellectual property and innovation, counterfeit medicines, patient safety, noncommunicable diseases and abbreviated licensing pathways for certain biological therapeutic products.

Strategic Plan 2010-2014
During 2008 and 2009, IAPO undertook development of its 2010-2014 Strategic Plan.  The draft plan has been shared with IAPO’s members and partners for consultation and the plan will be launched at the Global Patients Congress in February 2010.  This strategy provides a strong framework for IAPO’s work to ensure the involvement of patients in all decisions that affect their health and quality of life and recognises how IAPO is uniquely placed to deliver this strategy at the global level and aims to work equitably across all world regions.

Regional Programme
In 2008, IAPO started a regional programme of work to increase the impact of the patients’ voice at a regional level through advocacy and educational work with patient groups.  To read more about our regional work, please click here.

Policy Activities
IAPO has undertaken a number of pieces of work to improve the information provided to patients including the IAPO Policy Statement on Patient Information, Health Literacy Action Guides and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Working Group on Patients as Partners. Other policy areas in which we are continuing to work include counterfeit medicines, pharmacovigilance and patient safety.

4th Global Patients Congress, Istanbul, Turkey, 23-25 February 2010
In 2009, IAPO began planning for the 4th Global Patients Congress which will build on the success of previous Congresses with an exciting programme that will focus on ‘Strengthening Healthcare Systems Globally: The Value of Patient Engagement’.  How patient-centred healthcare can help build healthy communities, contribute to research and clinical trials and improve access to treatment, will be central to the programme.  The Congress will bring together 200 delegates from around the world, representing patients and other stakeholders in health, with the aim of developing patient-centred healthcare strategies. For more information on the Congress, please click here.