The STRATEGIC PEDIATRIC ALLIANCE initiative.

The consortium, open to the major International and National European Pediatric Societies/Associations, was established in Vienna during “Europediatrics 2011” with the objective of promoting strong advocacy and political intervention in order to ensure the delivery of high quality health care to children throughout Europe. 

Following the productive discussion that the founding participants had during the “Strategic Alliance” (SA) meeting in Vienna, the Oversight Committee was unanimously empowered to pursue the initial, agreed upon, activities of the Alliance (ie, writing a letter of appeal to be sent to the presidents of National European Pediatric Societies/Associations defending pediatric primary care and, the design of a Questionnaire on pediatric education and delivery of health care).

In Prague the results of the Strategic Pediatric Alliance Questionnaire, initially discussed during the First International Congress in Tel Aviv, will be presented. The Questionnaire has the aim of understanding, in an depth manner, the new responsibilities that the international pediatrics community must assume towards children living in a society undergoing profound and constant changes where, among other things, the primary care pediatrician is at risk of progressively disappearing. 

The results from the questionnaire will be instrumental in delineating Special “Actions” that will be needed in order to create strong and effective political interventions and advocacy for children in Europe.

Due to the long and productive experience of many of the consortium’s participating organizations at the political level (using effective intervention of media), it is strongly recommended that the build up of advocacy for children and political interventions, through effective media support, be closely guided by the Strategic Alliance in collaboration with any other national paediatric primary care association that can and wants to contribute to this end.

In conclusion, the initiative of the Strategic Pediatric Alliance has been promoted to emphasize the importance of unifying, and thereby strengthening, the collective efforts addressed by professional health-care providers (Associations, Societies and Confederations) in order to positively influence the opinions of governmental administrators, politicians and relevant EU Institutions (European Parliament, UEMS, etc). European national societies that participated in the meeting of the Strategic Pediatric Alliance held in Istanbul in December 2011 agreed to take an active part in this project. Their presence in Prague is welcomed as wellas that of EPA representatives and the primary care delegates and representatives of EAP and ECPCP.

First International Congress on Pediatric Primary Care, Tel-Aviv, Israel, 11-13 May 2011

Second International Conference on Pediatrics Primary Care, Prague, Czech Republic, 10-12 May 2012