The European Federation of Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis Associations (EFCCA) and the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) have initiated the public awareness campaign “Join the fight against IBD”. Its aim is to enhance the general understanding of the physical and socio-economic burdens of the disease and to accelerate the dissemination of new standards of care of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) among health institutions, healthcare providers.
The second event of the Join the fight against IBD campaign took place on February 13-14, in the course of the 8th Congress of ECCO in Vienna (Austria) and focused on the topic:
“Chronic Disease in young people. What does it mean to a teenager for daily life to fight with Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis?”
During the global press conference on 13 February, Marco Greco, EFCCA chairman and Daniel Sundstein, EFCCA Youth Group presented the viewpoint of people living with IBD. This was followed by country specific mini press conferences where journalists could interview representatives both from the medical and patient community.
The next day, on 14 February, Marco Greco participated in a panel discussion along with Simon Travis, ECCO president, Dr Rainhold Stockbrugger, chairman of the UEG Public Affairs Committee and Karin Kadenback, Member of the European Parliament.