Volume 1, Issue 1

Welcome to the premiere issue of the International COPD Coalition (ICC) eNewsletter! This bimonthly communication will provide information, ideas, and resources for ICC member organizations and their members, COPD patients, health care professionals, and educators working to combat COPD and improve its treatment. This issue introduces the ICC, profiles one of its member organizations (EFFORTS), and offers exciting information for use on World COPD Day 2004 (Nov. 17). In future issues, you will also find updates on "best practice" papers developed by ICC members, educational materials about COPD, and ICC Campaigns.


 Introducing ICC

The ICC is an international coalition dedicated to improving the health and access to care of patients with COPD. This focus emphasizes developing countries and deprived areas as well as middle-income and developed countries. To fulfill its goals, the ICC has assembled a coalition of COPD patient organizations worldwide.


ICC at the ATS and ERS Conferences

ICC had meetings and receptions on May 22, 2004, in Orlando, Florida, at the international conference of the American Thoracic Society and on September 4, 2004, in Glasgow, Scotland, at the ERS. ICC leaders, representatives from 50 member organizations, and sponsors listened enthusiastically to news about the new website, eNewsletter, and WCD 2004 activities. Click here to read the minutes from these meetings.

 

World COPD Day 2004

COPD affects up to 600,000,000 worldwide and we can increase awareness of its huge toll by planning and participating in World COPD Day 2004 activities. WCD 2004, which takes place on November 17, is organized by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). Visit www.goldcopd.org to learn more about GOLD, to view a slideshow of international activities for World COPD Day 2003, and to find ideas and resources for World COPD Day 2004 activities.


CONFIDENTIAL!
World COPD Day 2004 Press Release

GOLD and ICC are working to promote COPD Awareness worldwide. To encourage media coverage of WCD 2004 a global press release with startling new prevalence data for COPD worldwide is being released. This press release is being embargoed until Nov. 17, 2004, but in order for COPD educators to coordinate their media efforts locally and gather their own national prevalence data for local stories, we are providing access to the WCD 2004 press release by clicking here.

For those who want access to WCD 2004 background materials and the WCD 2004 logo, please click here.


Featured ICC Member - Efforts

Each eNewsletter issue will profile a different ICC member organization. We are pleased to begin with the Emphysema Foundation For Our Right To Survive (EFFORTS), an on-line international support and advocacy group for and by people with COPD.
EFFORTS emerged from an emphysema support group in 1998. Its goals include:

  • Promoting research, medical, and political efforts to develop effective treatments for emphysema.
  • Educating patients and the general public about the dangers of cigarette smoking.
  • Developing programs to ensure that people with limited or no medical insurance will have full access to medicines and treatments for COPD.
  • Promoting early detection of lung diseases.
  • Helping the public understand the circumstances of people with lung diseases so that these individuals will not be isolated or stigmatized.
  • Serving as a repository of information about emphysema and its changing treatment options.

EFFORTS has almost 2,000 active members who work together and communicate on-line. They have been extremely successful in advocacy activities for COPD and in gathering and sharing information about COPD and its care in the US. EFFORTS is an active participant and founding member of the US COPD Coalition (www.uscopd.org) and of the ICC. Their innovative website use can provide inspiration for your group as well! Click here to visit the EFFORTS Web site. Click here to meet Mr. Gary Bain, the President and Founder of EFFORTS and the person who did the initial programming for the ICC website.

We can also profile your organization in the ICC eNewsletter! Click here to describe your group and share its activities and goals.


Subscribe!

Please go to www.internationalcopd.org/newsletter/signup.aspx to sign up for future issues of this eNewsletter, or to share your thoughts, ideas, or comments. Only those who subscribe will receive these mailings!


Join Us!

We invite COPD patient organizations throughout the world to join the ICC and we invite COPD patients and those interested in and working in COPD education and action to subscribe to the ICC eNewsletter by clicking here.

Working together, we can help patients with COPD!