World COPD Day 2007

World COPD Day is an annual event, organised to raise awareness and visibility of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. In 2007, World COPD Day took place on Wednesday, November 14th.

To mark World COPD Day 2007, the European Respiratory Society, together with the European Lung Foundation (ELF) and the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients Associations (EFA), organised a full day of events in the European Parliament, Strasbourg, France.
The day started with a press conference in the morning, where representatives from the ERS and EFA explained to EU press correspondents what COPD is and what can be done at EU level to tackle the problem. The press conference was followed by a lunch debate, where MEPs and other policy makers were presented with information on the disease and cost-effective interventions that could be put in place to tackle the problem.

The events were hosted by Scottish MEP, Catherine Stihler.

Press Release:

 Health experts seek legislation to help Europeans breathe more easily

 Les experts de la santé sollicitent l'adoption de lois pour aider les Européens à respirer plus facilement

Background document:

in English


in French

Written Declaration on COPD

On November 14th, 2007, to mark World COPD Day, a written declaration was launched by a group of MEPs (Catherine Stihler, Avril Doyle, Paulo Casaca, Gerard Onesta and Jerzy Buzek) that called upon the EU and Member States to pay more attention to the condition. COPD is currently the fourth biggest killer in the EU and is predicted to become the third biggest killer worldwide by 2020. Despite this, COPD continues to be under-diagnosed and under-funded at both national and European level. Approximately 200,000-300,000 people die each year in Europe because of COPD. Among respiratory diseases COPD is the leading cause of lost work days, and it is estimated that, in Europe, productivity losses due to COPD amount to a total of €28.5 billion annually.

A written declaration is a text of maximum 200 words on a matter falling within the European Union's sphere of activities and can be used by MEPs to launch or relaunch a debate.  Written declarations, to be discussed in plenary and to be then forwarded to the institutions mentioned on the document, need to be signed by more than half of the 785 MEPs.

You can help by writing to your MEP and asking him/her to support written declaration 102/2007.

To access a model letter please click here.

To access the list of MEPs please click here.