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Cáritas Coimbra will participate as a speaker at the Annual EU Health Policy Platform Conference, organized by the European Commission, in Brussels on 12 November.

Carina Dantas, of the Innovation Department of Caritas Coimbra, will be a speaker at the Roundtable “The role of Stakeholders in EU Health Policy”, where she will discuss with the Directors and Advisors of the European Commission John F. Ryan, Isabel de la Mata and Philippe Roux, the role of the different actors in the construction of European Union policies.

Later, at the same event, she will share with Willeke van Staalduinen of AFEdemy the presentation of SHAFE’s Joint Statement, communicating to the European Commission and the various present stakeholders the recommendations made for the implementation of Smart, Healthy and Age-Friendly Environments in Europe, resulting from the research carried out during 2018, as well as the contributions gathered through survey responses and personal interviews with opinion leaders. See the full schedule of the meeting.

During 2018, Cáritas Coimbra and AFEdemy are the coordinators of the SHAFE’s Thematic Network – a network approved by the European Commission under the theme Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments. This network involves as partners 10 large European networks and more than 100 organizations from across Europe who brought contributions, comments and support of hundreds of stakeholders.

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 is 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 technological development with the construction industry in terms of policies and funding in order to provide smart, accessible and affordable houses across Europe. This broad implementation of intelligent systems in people’s own homes can be the key to a more efficient healthcare system with better quality at a lower cost.

In mHealth, the focus is to understand and fill the major 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.

All information is available at https://caritascoimbra.pt/project/shafe/

If you want to be a partner and endorse the Joint Statement, register at https://en.caritascoimbra.pt/shafe/endorsing-partners/

The meeting will be web streamed: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/eu-health-policy-platform-annual-meeting