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Articles in this category:  04.03.2009 // Information to patients on prescription drugs and treatments – also in magazines
click to close Following today's conference on Health Education in the European Parliaments, the issue of how to disseminate patient information in the future will have to be re-discussed. Today’s patients find it difficult to get reliable information on prescriptive drugs and treatments. The reason is simple: EU law relating to medicinal products for human use bans the public provision of any such information. Therefore online information from outside Europe, mostly non-serious websites, provide a range of information generally in English, but often misleading, wrong and irritating for people seeking trusted information about a disease and possible treatments.
On 10 December 2008 the European Commission tabled a legislative proposal for a Directive on patient information. This proposal aims to meet the increasing demands of patients to get information on prescription drugs and treatments they can rely on. The draft law suggests ways of disseminating non-promotional patient information while recognising the role of print media for carrying such information and indicates that patient information should be published in “health related publications”. The definition of such media is left to the Member States.
But before the draft law is adopted, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers will have to have their say. Publishers will continue to promote the key role of magazines for enlightening patients and promoting a healthy society. As magazines have a close relationship with their readers, patients would naturally expect to find this kind of information in their trusted magazine.
This is why FAEP supported today's Health Education conference titled “Turning Europe into the Healthiest Society” in the European Parliament in Brussels. Well trusted magazine brands that are perceived as an intimate friend by the readers play a key role in this process.
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