Writing Fit

This week I was in Bucharest to launch the Romanian ‘Fit for Work’ report. The setting for the launch was the incredible Parliamentary Palace, second only to the Pentagon in size. It dominates the south-western part of the city and many houses, churches and a football stadium were demolished to make way for it and surrounding government buildings.
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On 21 April Fit for Work Europe, the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the Hungarian Association of Rheumatologists (HAR) came            together under the Hungarian Presidency of the EU and Hungarian Ministry of National Resources to hold an EU High-Level Conference the Burden of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMDs): Challenges in Work Capacity and Prevention of Disability in the EU. Representatives from 25 countries and over 50 organisations across Europe came together to discuss the impact of RMDs on the European workforce and how stakeholders work together to address the issue.
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This week, the Fit for Work Europe Coalition is hosting an EU Presidency Conference together with The Hungarian Association of Rheumatologists (MRE), The Ministry of National Resources (Government of Hungary) and The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). The Conference will centre on the impact of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMDs) at EU and national level, as well as ensuring the EU’s Disability Strategy gives due focus to RMDs in the workplace across the EU.

You can download the agenda below for the programme: “Burden of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases: Challenges in Work Capacity and Prevention of Disability in the EU”.

For further details, please contact the Fit for Work Europe Secretariat.

The Burden of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases

You can now watch footage from our Fit for Work Greece launch below, and in the video section of the Fit for Work Europe website.

Maarten de Wit, Member of the Fit for Work Europe Coalition Steering Group, presented at the European Platform for Patients’ Organisations, Science and Industry workshop on Chronic Conditions on 10 December 2010. See his presentation below:

Fit for Work Europe at the EPPOSI (European Platform for Patients’ Organisations, Science and Industry) Wor…

I had the privilege yesterday to participate in the European Parliament Interest Group on Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases session in Brussels.

I found the meeting very dynamic and positive and I noticed that our efforts both in EULAR, the EUMUSC.NET and in Fit for Work Europe are well recognised both by the MEPs and the representatives for Commissioner John Dalli.

I attended a roundtable conference in Budapest on Tuesday, 30 November to launch the Fit for Work Hungary report. The room was full of stakeholders ranging from patient representatives to government officials. The discussion centred on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), workability and employment. We also heard from researchers interested in vitamin D deficiency focusing on primary prevention activities.

The roundtable was chaired by Dr. Arpád Gógl and Prof. Dr. Gyula Poór. They guided the discussion and ensured everyone had a chance to share their views. Dr. János Áder, MEP, and Dr.Miklós Szócska, the Health and Social Affairs State Secretary, welcomed the group and were pleased to support the discussion. We heard presentations from Dr. László Hodinka about the link between MSDs and workability and Prof. Dr. Péter Lakatos about vitamin D deficiency. Then, I presented the Fit for Work findings and recommendations for Hungary. We discussed the limitations of the Hungarian data and the recommendations to improve data collection in this area. Dr. Márta Péntek also highlighted the importance of gathering comparative data from countries with similar health and welfare systems.

The roundtable was an important step in working to address the impact of MSDs in Hungary. I look forward to future meetings and initiatives to continue the discussion during the coming year.

This Fit for Work presentation is a working document, designed to capture an overview of successes at EU and at in-country level.  If you would like a copy to use in Fit for Work activities, or to receive a copy of the template to record your own activities, please email us.
Fit for Work Europe National Best Practices

The Coalition calls for the European Union to prioritise MSDs  — read the letters here.                                                                                                                                  |

Open letter from the Fit for Work Coalition

Open letter from the Fit for Work Coalition