October 2021

Malta Health Network has been invited by MCAST Staff to participate in their fresher's week for the fist time. MHN had a stand and mainly this stand was open every day from the 11th October till the 15th October in the morning. Invitation has also been sent to our member organistions to see if they are interested in participating in the freshers week through our stand. Mainly there were 4  organisations who were interested and these are Richmond Foundation, ARAM Malta, Caritas Epilepsy Malta and ADHD Malta. The enthusiasm from the students was very encouraging to us and some students also showed intererest in the work that we do. 

19th April 2021

On the occasion of European Patients' Rights Day, on 19th April, the Malta Health Network (MHN) as lead of the Malta ENP, held an online webinar to promote the day. Though organising events is difficult at the moment due to the pandemic situation we took up the opportunity to spread the word about training opportunities which are available at a local and European Level virtually. Thanks to Maria Dutarte (EUPATI Executive Director) and Amanda Lyons (Networks and Communications Coordinator) who accepted to give the audience an overview of the European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) project we organised a webinar. This was a great opportunity since at minimal costs we could share with local patients and patient leaders the benefits of EUPATI. Whilst Ms Dutarte gave an overview of the history of the project and what is happening now, Ms Lyons explained about the opportunities offered through the EUPATI Open Classroom.

Their presentation was followed by a personal experience of Ms Mary Vella (ARAM & EUPATI fellow). Ms Vella graduated as a fellow in 2016 and since than she has had extensive experience in being invited to contribute as a patient expert at seminars and conferences as well as at European Medicines Agency (EMA) level. She expressed her satisfaction about this and wished that there is more willingness on a local level for patient experts like her to contribute in policy and decision-making boards. Ms Christine Montague (MS Malta) who will graduate as a EUPATI fellow in late April, was very enthusiastic about the level of training received. She explained that it was a tough but worth it experience and she looks forward to contributing to the betterment of the patient community in Malta.

Participation for this webinar was very encouraging and MHN will be planning similar events in the coming months. Feedback received from the audience was very positive and shows a need among the patients and patient representatives for more learning and training opportunities.  Thanks to Maria, Amanda, Mary and Christine for your contribution.