The ELF team was honoured to take part in a series of inspiring events on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly in New York. Past ELF Chair and member of the WHO Civil Society Commission, Kjeld Hansen, and ELF Director, Pippa Powell, joined colleagues from the European Respiratory Society (ERS) to ensure that patient voices were heard and that lung health was firmly on the agenda.
Kjeld attended a session hosted by Slovenia on Social Participation as a Driver of Health Equity and Resilient Societies. Kjeld is passionate about social participation and was impressed to see the engagement in the topic by so many countries. While attending the session he was able to share ELF’s work with ERS to ensure that lived experience of people with lung conditions guides and influences all activities and decisions.
Pippa and Kjeld joined the side event Tackling Future Threats in an Era of Multipolarity, hosted by Pandemic Action Network (PAN), the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, The Elders, the Africa-Europe Foundation and Resilience Action Network Africa (RANA.) The discussions underlined the importance of trusting science and elevating civil society voices. It was inspiring to hear from former ELF Award winner, Gro Harlem Brundtland, sharing her wisdom as former Prime Minister of Norway and Director-General of WHO. The shared experience of some of the world’s former leaders was a hopeful exploration into potential solutions for the future.
ELF supported the call for stronger action on indoor air quality, with many organisations signing up to the Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air. It was powerful to hear parents and children campaigning for clean air in schools, alongside contributions from H.E. Andela Jaksic-Stojanavic, Minister of Education, Montenegro and the Boston schools system. There were many synergies with the ELF and European Respiratory Society campaign Healthy Lungs for Life and the growing schools initiative. Lung health was represented on the panel by Jose Castro, who later joined the ELF team at their ERS Congress event, the ELF Patient Organisation Networking Day.
Kjeld spoke at the Italian Cultural Institute during the Last Mile series, which focused on closing the gap between innovation and implementation in cancer and other NCDs. He presented the work of the SOLACE project on reaching the people who need lung cancer screening most.
A major highlight of the week was the high-level side event Lung health matters – accelerating progress towards UN NCD targets, co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Malaysia and the Government of Romania. Speakers included José Luis Castro (WHO), Kjeld Hansen (ELF), Sean Maguire (Clean Air Fund) and representatives from the Romanian and Malaysian governments.
The event focused on:
The event followed the release of the WHO Europe–ERS report on CRDs in the WHO European Region, which notes that despite progress in reducing CRD mortality, the health, economic and societal burden and related inequities remain high.
ELF was proud to help prepare the patient video shown at the event, bringing lived experience directly to the global stage. Held in the UN Church Centre overlooking the UN Headquarters, the event offered space for practical discussions on accelerating progress for lung health. Free lung function testing was offered to all attendees.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) cause nearly 90% of deaths in Europe. The EU has shown leadership in negotiations, with recognition of mental health, lung health and air pollution included in the draft UN NCD declaration. But gaps remain:
ELF and partners will continue to call for stronger commitments. Taxes that save lives, healthier food environments, cleaner air and policies free from vested interests are not optional, they are essential.
