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On Tuesday, June 19, 2018, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., the first webinar of the SHAFE Thematic Network – Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments was held: Framework of the Joint Statement: sharing of first results and request for comments, organized by the European Commission through the European Union Health Policy Platform.

If you can not keep track of live, it’s not too late to watch – it’s online and available for viewing at any time at https://ecwacs.webex.com/mw3100/mywebex/nbrshared.do. The presentation of the consortium, context, challenges and objectives of the Thematic Network was carried out by Carina Dantas, Director of the Innovation Department of Cáritas Coimbra. This is your opportunity to inform or participate in the process leading to the SHAFE Joint Statement in the Thematic Network cycle 2018.

You can see the presentations of Caritas Coimbra and AFEdemy. The Network framework document can be consulted here.

The specific goal of SHAFE is to prioritize the two main aspects of Age-Friendly Environments – Locations and People – in creating eHealth and mHealth solutions – especially focused on quality and cost.

In eHealth will be given a special emphasis on the current state of the art in Europe of smart homes for people with chronic illnesses and disabilities – digital support as robotics, smart living environments and intelligent communication with formal and informal caregivers. It is essential to align technology development with the construction industry in terms of policies and funding in order to provide smart homes, accessible and available throughout Europe. This broad implementation of intelligent systems in people’s own homes can be the key to a more efficient health system with better quality at a lower cost.

In mHealth, the focus will be to understand and fill the main gaps between technological development and the actual needs and expectations of users, proposing policy measures to encourage and reinforce the actual entry of new products on the market, hoping to reduce inequalities in access to health services.

Caritas Coimbra, with the support of AFEdemy Ltd., is coordinating one of the three European Commission’s Thematic Networks for 2018 with a view to preparing a Joint Statement to support the definition of European policies and strategies in this field.